A model for the diffusion of knowledge sharing technologies inside private transport companies

Purpose–This paper aims to investigate, inside the private sector of transport, a model for the diffusionof knowledge-sharing technologies with non-uniform internal influence that has been developed byEasingwoodet al.(1983).Design/methodology/approach–The authors performed an empirical evaluation of the performancesof the model by Easingwoodet al.(1983) by analyzing data gathered from almost 230 taxi drivers joiningtwo of the biggest taxi brokers operating in the Southern Italian city of Naples.Findings–Such an analysis reveals that the model by Easingwoodet al.(1983) provides an excellentagreement with the empirical data and allows to obtain interesting predictions on the future evolution ofthe sector performances in terms of increasing use of knowledge-sharing technologies within the taxidrivers’ community of practice (CoP).Research limitations/implications–In particular, the authors show that a unique solution alwaysexists, which is defined on the whole (positive) set of times and, in the long run, tends to a steady-stateequilibrium. A first limit of the present research is certainly the use of a sample restricted to the taxicompanies from only one city: future investigations should consider a larger sample by interviewing taxicompanies from multiple regions as well. Another limit is that the model performed does not take intoaccount all the factors influencing the diffusion of knowledge-sharing technologies within the CoP.Finally, the research design is not considering the impact of the diffusion of knowledge-sharingtechnologies on the customer relationship management.Originality/value–The research shows the application of a valid model both for evaluating thediffusion of technologies for sharing knowledge within a CoP and for estimating its development trend.It represents the first original study in Italy that empirically investigates the diffusion of technologicalinnovations for the knowledge management in an industry typically dominated by tacit codes ofknowledge-sharing: the taxi companies.