Practical Relevance of Knowledge Management and Intellectual Capital Scholarly Research: Books as Knowledge Translation Agents

To enhance our understanding of the relevance of knowledge management/intellectual capital (KM/IC) academic research, this study explores what sources authors utilize to develop their book content. Ten prominent KM/IC book authors were interviewed to identify if and how KM/IC academic literature is being disseminated through books. It was found that the body of knowledge existing in peer-reviewed journals is utilized in the development of book/textbook content. Books serve as knowledge translation agents through which academic literature is summarized, aggregated and transformed into the format that may be easily comprehended by non-academics. In addition to peer-reviewed journals, KM/IC book authors utilize other sources, including personal research, experts’ opinions, experience, practitioner magazines, conferences, books, and informal discussions with academics. The model, which was developed within this study, demonstrates that the book’s target audience and author’s motivation serve as a pure moderator of the relationship between the available content sources and actual book content.