Defining knowledge work : issues and future research directions

As knowledge-based economies emerge and develop there should be increasing interest in the knowledge work of individuals, groups or organisations. This issue prompted a review of recent research efforts to determine what the term ?knowledge work? means and how this term has been used. The review indicates that the term has a diverse set of meanings rather than a common one, with four quite different themes of knowledge work. These themes are: creating, managing or using knowledge; creating, managing or using information; engaging in individual, group or organisation learning activities; or performing specific tasks which, on further analysis, are seen as knowledge work. While accepting that a common definition of ?knowledge work? was not found, the review also showed that more work could be done within each theme. Finally the paper poses two broad directions that further research should take: first, to see from a practitioner perspective if any of these themes is the most generally accepted way of identifying knowledge work; second, whether or not these themes can be integrated into a common, generally accepted framework of what should be seen as knowledge work.