Organizational knowledge and the Intranet

The Intranet phenomenon has been driven by the push of technology standards and the pull of organizational need to (1) communicate across geographic, organizational and functional barriers, and (2) collaborate among sites and with suppliers and customers. The objective of this study is to generate a theoretical framework for the interaction between organizational knowledge and the Intranet. The contribution of this paper is 4-fold. First, we generate a theoretical framework using the paradigm model of grounded theory. We show interactions between the Intranet and three organizational knowledge strategies taking into account drivers, the context, and intervening conditions. Second, previous research on organizational knowledge creation theory is incorporated into the framework. Third, the framework forms the basis for future empirical research on the business value of the Intranet. Finally, the study raises implications for IS developers, IS departments, management and researchers. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.