The implementation of electronic records management in facilitating knowledge sharing at software development projects

There is an increasing body of researches focusing on knowledge sharing (KS) and electronic records management (ERM). However, these have hitherto been addressed as two entirely separate areas. Although it has been suggested that there some convergences between the two may exist, namely around the management of explicit knowledge, there is a lack of integrative research explicitly establishing relationships between these two areas. This paper reports on a research project that aimed at identifying these possible relationships and establishing the areas of convergence. This study employed an inductive qualitative approach based on a single case study of a successful software (SW) development company in Taiwan. The company was selected as it is already explicitly using ERM as a component of their KS practices. Overall twenty-one participants were interviewed using a semi-structured interview script. The findings of the study show that this is a particularly successful use of ERM and that its integration within KS facilitates internal communication and sharing of experiences. It was found that ERM is particularly useful in the process of externalization and codification of tacit knowledge and in the sharing and storing of this type of knowledge.