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Li, Y., and Kettinger, W. J. 2006. "An Evolutionary Information-Processing Theory
of Knowledge Creation," Journal of the Association of Information Systems(7:1), pp. 593-617.
Past Information Systems (IS) research on knowledge creation has not adequately accounted
for the evolutionary nature of knowledge. Research limitations also exist in depicting
the roles of information in the knowledge creation process. These two problems present
difficulties for practitioners when attempting to successfully implement Information
Technology (IT) to facilitate knowledge creation. Based on a problem-solving paradigm,
this research analyzes knowledge creation from both the evolutionary and information-processing
perspectives. The resultant theory outlines a process whereby tentative knowledge
is generated from varied existing knowledge and applied to a problem, producing information
to test the extent to which the problem can be solved. An iterative process continues
until the tentative knowledge with the highest potential to solve the problem is found,
yielding the information to best meet the goal. This process is further embedded in
an organization-wide problem-solving hierarchy where new knowledge is developed via
the integration of knowledge elements of sub-problems. By incorporating the evolutionary
nature of knowledge, this research provides a deeper understanding of the knowledge
creation process and the key determinants of its success. More importantly, by clearly
specifying the roles of information in the process, it offers promise in the better
design of IT to improve knowledge creation performance. We develop a framework based
on this Evolutionary Information-Processing Theory to aid practitioners in IS design.
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