"It's easier to ask someone i know": Call center technicians' adoption of knowledge management tools

This article traces the early implementation phase of a set of knowledge management tools in four customer call support centers within a multinational corporation. Through a case study analysis, this article addresses two fundamental issues. First, the article investigates how the organization keeps a new type of knowledge worker - the relatively unskilled, low-paid customer call support technicians who staff the phones at centers around the United States - current with the latest information on those products they support. Second, data from the case study suggest specific innovation factors that discourage technicians from adopting the knowledge tools.