Stickiness in knowledge transfer

Stickiness is a metaphor for the difficulties encountered in transferring knowledge. The concept of stickiness is first mentioned by Von Hippel (1994), who used the term to describe the costs in accessing and sharing information for technical innovation due to the fact that knowledge is socially embedded within the organisation and its practice. The way information is encoded is typically different from how it is socially embedded. As Nonaka (1995) argued, some knowledge systems are explicit whereas others are tacit. As the cost of encoding information, which is tacit, or socially embedded, increases, stickiness also increases.