Research Article Knowledge entrepreneurship: institutionalising wiki-based knowledgemanagement processes in competitive and hierarchical organisations Young ‘Anna’ Argyris1, Sam Ransbotham2 1Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA; 2Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA Correspondence: YA Argyris, Michigan State University, 404 Wilson Road, Suite 403, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA. Tel: +1-517-353-2196; Fax: +1-517-355-1292 Abstract Social media in general and wikis in particular offer unique opportunities for knowledge management. Despite widely publicised successes in public settings, wikis in businesses evince mixed results; enterprises struggle to apply wikis to institutionalise knowledgemanagement practices. We investigate the inherent tensions underlying knowledge-sharing in competitive and hierarchical organisations. Our application of the multi-level organisational learning framework demonstrates that, although wikis facilitate some important learning stages, other critical challenges remain. A unique blend of project leadership can facilitate the institutionalisation of wiki-based knowledge-management processes. To observe the leadership archetype, we use a longitudinal case study of wiki use within a division of NBC Universal. On the basis of our observations, we propose a new archetype of project leadership called Knowledge Entrepreneurship that integrates managerial skills, technology affordances, and critical factors in knowledge-management processes. Journal of Information Technology (2016) 31, 226–239. doi:10.1057/jit.2016.11 Keywords: case study; knowledge management; multilevel organisational learning processes; institutional entrepreneurship; enterprise social systems; wiki Introduction The importance of, yet challenges in, managing knowledge in organisations has been a topic for a myriad of research. Despite the advantages that properly managed institutional knowledge brings to organisations, impediments lie in the knowledge supply. Employees persistently demonstrate limited inclination to share their knowledge they see as exclusive personal property (Long and Fahey, 2000). In competitive and hierarchical settings where organisations bestow constrained resources (e.g., raise and promotion) upon individual performers rather than team efforts, this reticence can be substantial. The information systems (IS) community has investigated how computerised systems can resolve this well-known problem. Recent attention focuses on enterprise social systems in general and wikis in particular because of their affordances that are expected to aid organisations in knowledge management. In particular, wikis allow users to craft and recraft content, to build on others’ contributions, to try out new ideas, to make knowledge visible, and to preserve content in ways that were difficult, if not impossible, in prior knowledgemanagement systems (KMS) (Faraj et al., 2011; Treem and Leonardi, 2012). However, there is a conflict between the potential of wiki approaches and empirical observations in the corporate world. Wiki affordances do not translate to organisational knowledge processes as organically as expected (Grudin and Poole, 2010). Instead, the case studies that report ineffective wiki knowledge projects routinely indicate two inhibitors in organisational settings that impede the wiki affordances: A lack of user motivation and organisational tension. In hierarchical organisations, employees may be reticent to revise others’ posts publicly, especially their superiors’ posts, because a revision Journal of Information Technology (2016) 31, 226–239 © 2016 JIT Palgrave Macmillan All rights reserved 0268-3962/16 palgrave-journals.com/jit/