Tacit knowledge in organizations: bibliometrics and a framework-based systematic review of antecedents, outcomes, theories, methods and future directions

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this bibliometric and systematic literature review is to survey and evaluate key study’s in tacit knowledge (TK). Through analysing and synthesizing based on the antecedents, decisions, outcomes-theories, context and methods (ADO-TCM) framework, this paper highlights research gaps and avenues for future research. It is important to recognize the antecedents, results and theories in the available literature as it offers enough evidence for encouraging the significance of TK.

Design/methodology/approach

This research paper follows a bibliometric analysis and systematic approach in identifying, analyzing and synthesizing pertinent literature in TK. A total of 59 research studies were carefully and systematically reviewed with the help of NVivo12 and excel software to code and analyse.

Findings

With the help of bibliometric analysis and framework-based systematic review, this research paper offers a retrospective view of the TCM framework in the amalgamation with ADO framework, bibliometric analysis and important themes of TK research.

Originality/value

This paper is different from existing reviews as the authors have to combine bibliometric analysis and framework-based systematic review approach to provide a more robust encapsulation of TK research. To the best of the knowledge, the present research is one of the first systematic reviews based on a framework relating to TK.