Who are the real knowledge workers?

Against a background of emerging knowledge-based economies and increasing interest in knowledge work, knowledge workers and knowledge management, this paper reviews research efforts relating to knowledge workers. The review found that the term 'knowledge worker' is a broadly inclusive term rather than one with a specific and narrow meaning. This finding raises issues about what should be the focus for further research on knowledge workers. For instance, the all-encompassing nature of who are knowledge workers means that it is difficult for knowledge-based organisations to distinguish those more valued knowledge workers from others. The review also found that most research efforts to date related to directly identifying or defining knowledge workers. The problems outlined with this approach suggest that more indirect attempts be adopted to try and identify those more valued knowledge workers who make greater contributions to organisation performance. As an example, the paper looks at the activities of knowledge sharing or exchange. This analysis reveals a superior approach to better understanding who the more valued knowledge workers are and their contributions to improved organisation performance.