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Telework Experience and Frequency, and Knowledge Management During COVID-19 in Japan

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Knowledge Management in Organisations (KMO 2023)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 1825))

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Abstract

In Japan, successive states of emergency due to COVID-19 have sent office workers into mandatory telework, leading to radical changes in terms of how they manage knowledge on the job. This paper investigates how mandatory telework has affected knowledge management based on telework frequency. It makes use of two large groups of full-time Japanese employees, one with prior telework experience and the other one without.

Results highlight differences based on prior telework experience, whereby experienced teleworkers displayed higher knowledge management than telework novices. Moreover, for those with prior telework experience, an increase in telework frequency from 1 to 4 days a week meant an increase in knowledge management, but full telework resulted in lower knowledge management. This inverse U-shaped relationship suggests that full telework is detrimental to knowledge management for experienced teleworkers. In other words, higher telework frequency helps experienced teleworkers manage knowledge, as long as they go to the office once a week.

These findings suggest first that training and practice of using remote work can significantly increase knowledge management efficiency when forced to telework, and second that working one day a week in the office contributes to higher knowledge management among experienced coworkers, owing to the dual explicit and tacit nature of knowledge.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Business Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tokyo, Japan

    Remy Magnier-Watanabe

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  1. Remy Magnier-Watanabe
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Correspondence to Remy Magnier-Watanabe .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent, UK

    Lorna Uden

  2. National University of Kaohsiung, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    I-Hsien Ting

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Magnier-Watanabe, R. (2023). Telework Experience and Frequency, and Knowledge Management During COVID-19 in Japan. In: Uden, L., Ting, IH. (eds) Knowledge Management in Organisations. KMO 2023. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1825. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-34045-1_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-34045-1_5

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