**2. Knowledge employees, voices and knowledge transfer**

Knowledge employees collaborate with other employees and contribute to developing knowledge-embedded products, both intangible and tangible products,

### *Perspective Chapter: The Role of Knowledge Employees' Voices in Creating Knowledge in Digital… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.105646*

and services [24]. With the transformation of the economy through digitalization and platformatization, the role of knowledge employees with advanced knowledge, skills, and competency becomes very important to develop, create, produce, and distribute intangible resources. Greene [25] also added different features of knowledge employees, such as high cognitive power, conceptual reasoning, as well as new insights and perspectives. Greene [25] further argued that responsibility is characterized in the following terms—knowledge employees refer to those people who are responsible for their occupational life. They are constantly striving to have a better understanding of the organizational world and to refine their working approaches and behaviors to achieve organizational and personal goals more efficiently [26]. They are self-motivated and strive to achieve excellence in the organization. It is commonly impossible to force knowledge employees to work, bribe, or cheat; moreover, they are particularly motivated to do a better job without any extra money or imaginary technology [11]. Knowledge employees have different views toward occupational benefits. They are not working for a wage, and are responsible for the work and its improvement [25].

These unique characteristics enable knowledge employees to identify and resolve potential problems [27]. They use their personal books, websites, and networks to develop efficient solutions. They also employ their own knowledge in decision-making. In addition, they are considered effective, efficient, and productive assets to the business or society [11]. HRM plays a key role in programs aimed at empowering employees and encouraging them to participate in innovation in established businesses [28]. According to some metaphors from ancient myths, such as Ulysses or Icarus, it is believed that knowledge employees are those who dedicate their lives to the process of sustainable transformation, as well as further development and research for the ultimate objective of the group [29]. Furthermore, higher education is regarded as a critical characteristic of knowledge employees [30, 31]. Drucker proposes these characteristics by emphasizing the degree of competency that is required during formal and informal learning [32]. This proposal has changed higher education programs and encouraged existing educational experts to articulate and propose free education using the specialized information needed in the global economy [33].

When crucial issues in organizations are identified and knowledge is regarded as a process rather than a product [34, 35], knowledge employees will be responsible for the knowledge to activate such processes [36]. Therefore, the effectiveness of the expertise will be based on the level of familiarity with the existing tasks and the level of progress [37]. Employees who are capable of obtaining respect, glory, and fame and having a good chance of promotion in the future can further express the psychological mechanism of voice behaviors [38]. When such employees perceive their work as a meaningful task, they would prefer internal rewards compared to external rewards [39, 40]. Moreover, managers are required to allow their employees to voice their ideas and participate in decision-making activities if they are looking to hear their real opinions [41].

Wolff [42] has classified knowledge employees' skills into three groups, which are substantive skills (e.g., coordination, analytical, mathematical, and verbal intelligence that are developed as a result of individual education); interactive skills (e.g., coaching, negotiation, training, supervision and providing culture-based service); and mechanical skills (e.g., coordination, device operator, transportation, and technology use) [42]. According to Grant, employees who seem to express their opinions in a constructive way mostly employ effective strategies to moderate their emotions [43]. The importance of knowledge employees' voices refers to the fact that innovative and fresh ideas are not solely developed and presented by senior managers in today's competitive and dynamic environment. That is because the

knowledge employees' performance and productivity are considered critical to the success or failure of the company. They have obtained knowledge that is difficult to imitate. Knowledge employees in digital startups tend to ensure the survival of the organization in a highly competitive environment by producing and developing knowledge, and they can produce, maintain, and implement the knowledge. These issues can clearly demonstrate the close relationship between knowledge management and human resource management in a digital startup. Therefore, the departure of knowledge employees might gradually lead to communication breaches within the organization and also between the organizations, as well as the weakening of the employees and social groups in an organization. It may eventually result in negative psychological effects on people related to the separated employee, affect the organizational culture of the company, and dramatically reduce its efficiency.
