Knowledge Management as a Sub-Culturally Bound Determinant: Redefining the Hofstede Hypothesis

While organizations have initiated knowledge management initiatives to systematically and methodically capture both explicit and tacit (or silent) knowledge, these initiatives have experienced mixed results. Inherent organizational idiosyncrasies have bounded the transferability and reusability of the knowledge base. Characteristics such as relevance, timeliness, but most important, cultural context, bind both the generalizable and transferable value of knowledge. For the knowledge to have value and utility, the cultural context must be taken into consideration. The problematic generalization and applicability of the Hofstede Hypothesis is redefined as a matter of statistical aggregation averages. The collectivity that establishes the essence of culture has many faces that situationally define the culture context (i.e, profession, organization, religion, and ethnicity).