Knowledge Beyond the Individual? Making Sense of a Notion of Collective Knowledge in Organization Theory

Although the notion of ‘collective knowledge’ has become a building block of many knowledge-based studies on the organization, there is little clarity about the precise meaning of the term. This paper aims at closing this explanatory gap by investigating the question of what it can mean for knowledge to be collective. In drawing on relevant literatures it analytically distinguishes three types of collective knowledge and elaborates on their nature. Through analysis of their interrelationship and interaction within the organization, these types are integrated into an overarching framework forming a pluralistic epistemology of collective knowledge. Finally, some implications of the proposed epistemological framework for our understanding of higher-order knowledge-related constructs (such as routines and capabilities) as well as for the architecture of firms and industries are outlined.