Chapter 7: Knowledge Creation in Client–Consultant Interaction

This chapter provides an overview of a literature study on knowledge creation in client–consultant interaction. Clients and consultants can interact with each other to create knowledge (Kang et al., 2007), and knowledge creation can take place through dialogues (Hautala, 2011; Hennessy et al., 2016; Lorino & Mourey, 2013; MacIntosh et al., 2012; Majchrzak et al., 2012; Nursey-Bray et al., 2010; Quinlan, 2009; Rutten, 2017; Rutten & Boekema, 2012; Sapir et al., 2016; Tsoukas, 2009). But how do these dialogues “work?” In knowledge creation dialogues the following process (Majchrzak et al., 2012) is used: “(1) voicing fragments, (2) co-creating the scaffold, (3) dialoguing around the scaffold, (4) moving the scaffold aside, and (5) sustaining engagement” (p. 958). Interaction and dialogues are impacted by social elements, of which the use of power resources (Heizmann & Olsson, 2015) seems to be an interesting dimension in client–consultant interaction. We suggest doing further exploration to increase our understanding of how knowledge is created in client–consultant interaction.