Ignoring the Experts: Networks and Organizational Learning in the Public Sector

Although much of the research on learning in the public sector examines collaborative arrangements and interorganizational networks, it often stresses the importance of individual dialogue and social interaction as primary methods of learning. Given the collective focus, the current emphasis on organizational interaction has left the individual mechanisms by which learning occurs unspecified and understudied. This study takes as its unit of analysis the dyadic, advice seeking ties that operate as the pathways by which knowledge is transferred and developed among organizational members. Rather than exploring a single advice or knowledge sharing network, this study offers a novel approach for examining the social dynamics of organizational learning by linking two different types of task-relevant knowledge to the social networks that emerge when employees search for that knowledge. By measuring where expertise resides in each knowledge specific network and by modeling the processes and conditions affecting knowledge transfer, this study is able to analyze how efficiently organizations tap into the resources and skills that already exist among their members. The findings suggest that employees tend to ignore the experts when seeking tacit information, and instead rely on those they feel most comfortable with and with whom are most accessible. Several important distinctions to the patterns of network formation are noted between public and private organizations. Overall, the results suggest that public managers need to pay attention to the costs of knowledge sharing as much as its benefits in order to promote organizational learning.