The new normal might be too formal - A study on the effects of remote work on knowledge sharing in social interactions

Sammanfattning: This study aims to investigate the effects of extensive remote work on knowledge sharing in social interactions. The drastically changed working environments in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic have raised questions about the effects of remote work, a trend emerging already before the pandemic, considering the absence of physical, social interactions. Using an abductive research approach the study combines existing theoretical concepts on knowledge sharing in social interactions with findings from 18 semi-structured interviews with employees at three companies in the knowledge intensive industry of management consulting. From a literature review, we identify four main aspects of remoteness and go on to empirically identify and analyse cause-effect relationships between these aspects and their effects on knowledge sharing. Our findings suggest that working extensively remote leads to smaller spheres of employees sharing knowledge, fewer occasions of help seeking, decreased amounts of interactions regarding less critical topics, a decreased quality of knowledge shared in interactions, and a decreased amount of passive knowledge sharing. Based on a theoretical framework of different knowledge sharing aspects - individual, collective and organizational - we highlight and analyse the mechanisms behind these cause- effect relationships. Thereby, our findings contribute to the relatively unexplored research area of knowledge sharing in remote work settings with a more detailed understanding as to how various aspects of remoteness affect knowledge sharing in social interactions.