**Abstract**

This chapter incorporates the relevance of tacit knowledge and highlights some major barriers to knowledge sharing. Knowledge transfer is action through which; information, skills, expertise and experience is exchanged among people in an organization and it is a valuable and tangible asset for creating sustainability, performance and competitive advantage. From what is currently known, knowledge sharing activities occur generally with the support of knowledge systems designed by the board and knowledge managers. It is suggested that technology is one of the tools that support knowledge sharing, though other factors exist, such as organizational culture, trust, leadership and management philosophy, incentives and internal control systems. In this study, the researchers explore possible knowledge sharing opportunities and associated barriers, starting from top management to employees. The main purpose of this chapter is to look at how tacit knowledge affects organizational success. The chapter also covers ways to promote knowledge transfer in order to improve organizational performance and innovation. The discussion elaborated on the significance of tacit knowledge in a way that previous literature does not. It is emphasized that, from a resource-based view, businesses gain competitive advantage when they value and retain their existing tacit knowledge, as explicit knowledge is already known to everyone. According to the study, important variables such as corporate culture, individual employees, technology, and organizational internal factors are potential hurdles that must be examined to minimize the impact on organizational learning.

**Keywords:** tacit knowledge, organizational learning, human capital, resource base-view

## **1. Introduction**

Knowledge guarantees sustainable competitive advantage for an organization according to Grant [1] and classified as one of the most valuable and tangible resources that is acquire or replicated according to Nonaka et al. [2]. However, using knowledge as a strong competitive advantage require a unique resource which is hard to duplicate. The description of this resource matches with tacit knowledge [2]. All

these arguments imply that tacit knowledge is a significant subject for discussion in recent advances in knowledge management. There is substantial evidence on the importance of knowledge management (KM) in organizational performance. Experts from a variety of fields, including management, economics, and sociology have made meaningful contributions to this subject [1, 3, 4]. Earlier studies proposed that the relevance of knowledge management necessitated a paradigm shift, given the increasing level of competiveness. This revelation led to organizations constantly embracing knowledge concepts and associated strategic models for performance and growth, meanwhile corporate executives are often confronted with the concerns of tacit knowledge sharing [5]. That is because knowledge management is seen as a necessity for efficiency in all sectors of business, whether public or private. Mårtensson [6], asserts that massive forces are shaping the business and financial sectors, resulting in significant changes to human capital and resource strategies. In addition, uncertainties in the form of natural calamities, pandemics, rapid economic and technological development, as well as shifting consumer expectations are all catalysts for knowledge requirements. Nevertheless, organizations are recognizing technological advantages to achieve long-term competitiveness through utilizing the stock of tacit knowledge and limiting the barriers to knowledge sharing within the organization.

As a result of businesses' efforts to adapt rapidly, respond quickly to changes in their industries aggressively, steep learning curves are emerging. However, to make the competition irrelevant, businesses are concentrating their efforts on retaining experienced people, developing and using the employee potentials [7]. Knowledge application is attributed to availability raw material, labor and capital in past, today that perception has changed as the information age progresses and knowledge management advances. It is worth noting that, in modern management knowledge has superseded natural resources as the principal economic resource and a significant competitive advantage tool, and has remained a key component of all management operations.

Recent studies have highlighted several barriers to knowledge utilization, including individuals who lack the necessary educational background, training, and knowledge platforms to operate effectively in a knowledge-based environment [8]. A solution to this problem requires management to recognize and value knowledge through the development of existing human capital.

As a result, experienced personnel will be more willing to contribute to the organization's success, sinceemployees retain approximately 90% of an organization's knowledge, according to knowledge management literature [9]. These efforts were followed by various arguments describing the difference between knowledge and information. The essential features of knowledge management are made up of the mix of experience, values, skills contextual information and expertise that provides the framework for analyzing and absorbing new experiences and finding relevant information [10]. An individual's knowledge is their human personal asset whereas information is just a message being communicated that is deemed unusable except understood meaningfully and used. Recent advances in knowledge management are focusing on knowledge other than natural wisdom, which researchers attribute to tacit knowledge, which is closely related to Polanyi's claim that humans may have two forms of knowledge that may be used in different ways.

This chapter is organized according to the following sections; (i) the introduction consist of general overview of knowledge management, purpose and justification for the study (ii) section two contains the main literature review covering the main body of discussion, on tacit knowledge, objective knowledge, barriers to knowledge sharing, a proposed conceptual framework and factors affecting knowledge sharing. (iii) the third section covers the discussion of the main points relative to emerging issues and future research agenda and finally section (iv) presents a summary of the study outcome and the way forward.
