Managing knowledge loss: a systematic literature review and future research directions

PurposeJob market shifts, such as workforce mobility and aging societies, cause the exit of knowledgeable personnel from organizations. The ensuing knowledge loss (K-loss) has broad negative effects. This study analyzes the knowledge management literature on K-loss published from 2000 to 2021 and id...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of enterprise information management 2023-06, Vol.36 (4), p.1008-1031
Main Authors: Daghfous, Abdelkader, Amer, Noha Tarek, Belkhodja, Omar, Angell, Linda C., Zoubi, Taisier
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Data search
Empirical analysis
Employee turnover
Employment
Human resource management
Knowledge management
Knowledge sharing
Layoffs
Literature reviews
Operations management
Pandemics
Product development
Quality assessment
Resignations
Retention
Systematic review
Tacit knowledge
Workforce
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Summary:PurposeJob market shifts, such as workforce mobility and aging societies, cause the exit of knowledgeable personnel from organizations. The ensuing knowledge loss (K-loss) has broad negative effects. This study analyzes the knowledge management literature on K-loss published from 2000 to 2021 and identifies fruitful directions for future research.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conduct a systematic literature review of 74 peer-reviewed articles published between 2000 and 2021. These articles were retrieved from ProQuest Central, Science Direct, EBSCOhost and Emerald databases. The analysis utilizes Jesson et al.’s (2011) six principles: field mapping, comprehensive search, quality assessment, data extraction, synthesis and write-up.FindingsThree sub-topics emerge from the systematic literature review: K-loss drivers, positive and negative impacts of K-loss and mitigation strategies. Over half of the literature addresses mitigation strategies and provides solutions for K-loss already in progress, rather than proposing preventive measures.Research limitations/implicationsThis study has limitations related to the time span covered. Moreover, it focuses on articles published in refereed journals. Therefore, important contributions from conference papers, books and professional reports were excluded.Originality/valueThis research comprehensively synthesizes the K-loss literature and proposes future avenues of research to address under-investigated areas and potentially lead to theoretical and empirical advancements in the field. This study also provides suggestions for improving managerial practices.
ISSN:1741-0398
1758-7409
DOI:10.1108/JEIM-05-2022-0171