Tacit knowledge, explicability and creativity: a study of the Australian film industry

This paper explores the links between the sharing of tacit knowledge, the explication of tacit knowledge, and creativity, in the Australian Film Industry (AFI). Subject to harsh conditions including staff turnover, tight budgets and schedule constraints, the AFI does not formulate repositories of explicit knowledge. Instead, it relies on the sharing of tacit knowledge for its success. In this setting, the explication of tacit knowledge is studied. Two concepts arise from the qualitative data, and are explored in this paper. (1) Tacit knowledge has various levels of explicability, which can be conceptualized by an ‘Explicability Zone’. (2) There is a link between the level of explicability and potential for creativity. The paper concludes with ecommendations for further research on explicability levels and their link to creativity.