ICT Perceptions and Meanings: Implications for Knowledge Transfer

Driven by global competition and economic pressures, organizations are increasingly interested in transferring and leveraging local expertise at the global level. While many of the challenges of knowledge transfer (KT) have been discussed in the literature (e.g., incentives, cognitive limitations), the challenge of KT in distributed, or "virtual", settings and the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) have received limited attention. While any given ICT may be described in terms of one's perceptual awareness of its capabilities (e.g., richness, interactivity), it may also be described relative to the meanings an individual attaches to it, i.e., the idea of it or its purpose, rather than capability. We propose that understanding both perceptions and meanings, particularly as new ICTs are introduced, is critical to understanding selection and use by KT participants, and ultimately outcomes. In this paper, we conceptually explore the implications of meanings and perceptions on KT in virtual settings.