Effect of two management models on tacit and explicit knowledge sources in sheep and goat producers

In order to understand the behavior of knowledge as part of production and competitiveness factors in the sheep and goat sector, certain tacit (imagination, a family member, experience, etc.) and explicit (statistics, a researcher, standards, etc.) knowledge sources were studied from an epistemological point of view. This was carried out in 66 sheep and goat farms in Colombia during five years, from 2007 to 2012. During the study the effect of two management systems was evaluated on these; the first one corresponded to a "traditional" technical assistance system with direct analysis and recommendations by a professional to the producer; and the second one corresponded to technical assistance based on the creation and evolution of knowledge provided to the producer, according to knowledge management approaches. Data was examined using the Kruskal-Wallis test, multivariate correspondence analysis, and chi-square and cluster analyses. Results showed that when making a decision, farms tended to privilege tacit knowledge sources over explicit sources. The application of classical technical assistance with direct recommendations did not generate differences in sources of explicit knowledge (p > 0.05), nor in sources of tacit knowledge (p > 0.05). Moreover, farms intervened with knowledge management did not show differences in sources of tacit knowledge (p > 0.05) nor in sources of explicit knowledge (p > 0.05), independent of the management system that was used. Furthermore, producers preferred tacit knowledge sources.