Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

As Behn’s paper proposal notes, tacit knowledge is, by definition, knowledge that cannot be codified in words or other explicit ways, building on Polanyi’s dictum that “we can know more than we can tell.” This concept has deep roots in philosophy and, more recently, in management. Indeed, Robert Pirsig (1974), in one of the most influential modern books on quality management, argues that ‘quality’ is a phenomenon that lies beyond language and number, so that, although everyone is capable of identifying quality, it is not possible to define or measure or describe it to others precisely – “Quality is a direct experience independent of and prior to intellectual abstractions”.

While Behn’s paper focuses on the question of what it might mean for public sector managers and policy makers to make tacit knowledge explicit, this paper explores the role of tacit knowledge held by service users and other citizens who are involved in co-production of public services and publicly-desired outcomes. It distinguishes two types of tacit knowledge:  first, tacit knowledge about the effective practices known to service users and members of their communities and networks, whereby they can ensure that their own actions bring about desired results in relation to a give service or outcome (‘technical tacit knowledge’); second, tacit knowledge about how to influence and change the other stakeholders with whom they interact, e.g. in the service system or in the social network which supports the behavior changes they seek (‘social relationship’ tacit knowledge).

The paper argues that the greatest challenge for professional public services is to get access to the ‘technical’ tacit knowledge held by service users and their communities, since this knowledge is most accessible by sharing in the life experience of those people, which is highly demanding of time and emotional capital. Consequently, where this ‘technical’ tacit knowledge on the part of citizens is high, co-production is likely to entail that power over decisions should lie more with the service users and communities, who have most direct access to this knowledge. Tacit ‘social relationship’ knowledge, on the other hand, is an area where exchange between service professsionals and citizens (including service users) is likely to be easier, so more joint decision making may be relevant.

The paper demonstrates the importance of these distinctions by reference to a case study of co-production of services for older people with dementia in Scotland, which the authors have recently developed. The case study also demonstrates that tacit and explicit knowledge need to be further categorised to highlight unrevealed; unspoken but assumed; and misunderstood knowledge, each of which makes more difficult the co-production of services or outcomes by both parties.

Finally, the conclusions in the paper concur with the forecast by Smith (2001: 319): “The strong desire many people have to use and share their tacit knowledge will further increase the momentum and direction of the knowledge revolution.”