Towards a cultural ontology for interorganizational knowledge processes

The explication of national-specific and organizational-specific value systems of the firms involved in interorganizational knowledge management processes is the necessary condition for their success. The term cultural ontology is introduced to refer to such explication. Based on an inter-organizational knowledge-manipulating process model and on framework for studying the cultural influences on knowledge transfer process, the elements of cultural ontology are specified. The cultural ontology specification document includes its domain, purpose, level of formality, scope, possible sources of knowledge, competency questions and the possible reusable ontologies.