Does Tacit Knowledge Predict Organizational Performance? A Scrutiny of Firms in the Upstream Sector in Nigeria

• Main Author: Vincent I.O Odiri
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Danubius University 2016-02-01
• Series: Acta Universitatis Danubius: Oeconomica
• Subjects: Knowledge Management; Explicit Knowledge; Human Capital; Profitability; Oil Industry
• Online Access: http://journals.univ-danubius.ro/index.php/oeconomica/article/view/3138/3102
• ISSN: 2065-0175; 2067-340X

This paper examined tacit knowledge so as to see whether tacit knowledge when properly put to use can lead to improved performance by upstream sector firms in Nigeria. Knowledge as we believe, is very vital to both corporate entities and individuals. Knowledge encompasses both explicit and tacit. This paper focused on one aspect of knowledge – ‘tacit’ which is in the psyche or brain of the individual possessing it. Inspite of the central role it plays, tacit knowledge has been downplayed by most firms. However, we adopted a survey research design via questionnaires administered to 504 employees randomly selected from 3 different oil firms. The data obtained were analyzed using inferential statistics. Also, multi-collinearity diagnoses of tacit knowledge and organizational performance was performed. The result suggests that tacit knowledge is linearly correlated with organizational performance. This implies that tacit knowledge predicts organizational performance. This study is significant in that the findings would be useful to management of firms, as it divulge how tacit knowledge when properly harnessed can lead to increased performance. Most prior studies in this area were conducted in other countries, hence our study is one of the first in Nigeria that examined tacit knowledge and organizational performance.