Leadership in Organizational Knowledge Creation: A Review and Framework

Organizational knowledge creation integrates context, knowledge assets, and knowledge creation processes throughout the organization. Using organizational knowledge creation theory as an organizing framework, we conduct a literature review that shows prior work has focused on the role of central, upper‐echelon, leadership in knowledge creation processes, without devoting much attention to context and knowledge assets. To remedy these weaknesses, we develop a new framework for situational leadership in organizational knowledge creation. The framework is based on a continuum that ranges from centralized to distributed leadership at three layers of activity: a core layer of local knowledge creation; a conditional layer that provides the resources and context for knowledge creation; and a structural layer that forms the overall frame and direction for knowledge creation in the organization. We discuss the implications of this framework for theory and practice.