Field of dreams in knowledge management systems: Principles for enhancing psychological attachment between person and knowledge

Abstract

How can self-generating KMS be designed so that contributions arise from intrinsic motivation, or knowledge worker's personal attachment to knowledge, rather than external influences? Building on previous work on psychological attachment in information systems and psychological ownership in organizational sciences, we introduce KMS design principles that strive for harmony among knowledge workers, their knowledge, and others exploiting the knowledge in the organization. Our proposed design principles are aimed to increase knowledge workers' contributions to KMS by supporting employees' psychological attachment to knowledge. © 2008 Physica-Verlag Heidelberg.