Knowledge risks taxonomy based on the organizational knowledge dynamics

Research background: Business organizations are open to information and knowledge fluxes crossing their borders from inside out and from outside inside. Also, organizational knowledge may have an internal generation of knowledge, and knowledge sinks. Understanding this organizational knowledge dynamics provides a new perspective on knowledge vulnerabilities and risks. Taking advantage of this perspective, the paper presents a new ontology of knowledge risks contributing this way to the extant literature dedicated to knowledge risks. Purpose of the article: The purpose of the paper is to present a new ontology of knowledge risks based on organizational knowledge dynamics. Methods: The method is based on a conceptual framework of organizational knowledge dynamics (OKD) and on a semantic literature review. The knowledge gap addressed by this research is between the spectrum of knowledge risks and organizational knowledge dynamics. Some of the main types of knowledge risks in the literature are knowledge loss, knowledge leakage, knowledge waste, and knowledge spillover. The research design is based on a literature review, followed by a theoretical proposal of a new classification for knowledge risks, which is also our answer to bridging the knowledge gap. Our methodological approach for analyzing the knowledge risks used key expressions and focused on some key authors. Findings & Value added: The main findings are intended to complete the gaps in the previous knowledge risk categories by using a criteria-based approach for defining a comprehensive classification.