Distinguishing knowledge-sharing, knowledge-construction, and knowledge-creation discourses

van Aalst, Jan

However, knowledge creation is not just a rational effort. For example, the community periodically needs discourse to identify priorities and long-term goals, decide how to mentor newcomers, and evaluate knowledge advances. As studies of scientific practice have shown, the associated discourse tends to be more argumentative (Feyerabend 1975; Kuhn 1970; Lakatos 1970; Latour 1987) . To mention just a few examples, in science, good problems may not be investigated because they are not currently considered important (Latour 1987) . Researchers promote their own work and that of close colleagues by alerting the community to recent findings, and may ignore important new findings that they do not find appealing (Reeves 2008) . Other researchers may not make their insights public, for fear of attracting criticism (e.g., Madame Curie's reluctance to make public the health hazards associated with radium, see Quinn 1995) . In other words, belief-mode discourse also plays an important role in knowledge creation. Despite individual idiosyncrasies, members of a scientific field share a goal of innovation and the advancement of knowledge. Commitment to shared goals within a team is also important in a variety of other innovative contexts (Gundling 2000; Lencioni 2002; Nonaka and Takeuchi 1995) .