Trans-Organisational Knowledge: The 4I Framework Revisited

In this paper we look at the ‘4I framework’ introduced by Crossan, Maurer, & White in the context of social learning, i.e. the type of learning that is by large informal, negotiated in practice, and identity-based. Reviewing literature from five broad areas, namely personal knowledge, organizational knowledge, organizational learning, sensemaking, and communities of practice, suggested that the 4I framework in its current form does not account for knowledge sharing taking place in social learning spaces, such as communities of practice. The reason for this anomaly is that knowledge sharing in such networks does not respect organizational boundaries. Having synthesized this literature, we suggest augmenting the 4I framework by adding a new level of analysis: the trans-organisational level. At this level the typical process of the 4I framework change, interpretation becomes reinterpretation, integration becomes dis- and reintegration and institutionalisation becomes deinstitutionalisation.