The Role of Dissonance in Knowledge Exchange: A Case Study of a Knowledge Management System Implementation

This study examines the non-adoption of a knowledge management system for knowledge exchange among a distributed group of non-life insurance experts. The users participated with enthusiasm in the design process where they provided functional and data specifications for the system. However, a few months after introduction, the system was hardly being used at all. The analysis of the case suggests that non-use of a system can be understood in terms of dissonance, a dominant theme observed in the social dynamics of the implementation. Dissonance was observed through disparate mental models of a system's intention and use, disparate mental models of knowledge and knowledge ownership, and relational power dissonance where the spirit of knowledge sharing imbued in the mission of the system challenges the relational power position between the affected stakeholder groups. Understanding the implications of these issues can be used to inform a requirements engineering process for these kinds of software applications.