LEVERAGING TACIT KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER WITHIN ONLINE LEARNING SYSTEMS WITH THE USE OF KNOWLEDGE OBJECTS: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Knowledge sharing is essential to improve individual as well as organisational performance. In particular, tacit knowledge sharing, such as the sharing of practical experiences, skills, know-how, or trick of the trade, is known to have a significant impact on the quality of work and professional effectiveness. With this realisation, managing tacit knowledge is now at the heart of every organisation's strategy to guarantee an effective transfer of the expertise between masters and novices. However, the process of tacit knowledge sharing is challenging and remains contentious within virtual learning environment (VLE), increasingly used as a medium for online training and teaching purposes. Despite the attention and the plethora of arguments supporting online tacit knowledge sharing through information and communication technology (ICT), there is still a paucity of studies showing how to cope up with effective tacit knowledge sharing and transfer in online learning environments. Many learning providers are unaware and unable to promote and leverage tacit knowledge transfer among expert(s) and learners. Therefore, this paper proposes a framework based on knowledge objects (KO) to leverage tacit knowledge transfer and retention in online learning. The proposed framework aims to empower online learning systems to mitigate the lack of face-to-face contacts in online distance learning and emphasise on individual tacit knowledge gain. It also gives opportunities for further empirical studies to examine and ascertain the nature and the level of knowledge shared and acquired as well as the pattern of knowledge flow in virtual learning spaces.