The Knowledge Café as a Research Technique

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to describe the application of a Knowledge Café as an academic research technique. Knowledge Cafés are a tool for sharing knowledge among those individuals who participate in the conversations it encourages. Used in a novel way to non‑intrusively listen in on a group of well‑experienced e‑Government individuals, the Knowledge Café has provided a technique for critiquing a theoretical conjecture which has lead to its refinement. This paper describes the steps involved in this refinement process, as well as the how the transcript of the final plenary session was treated. The previous and the revised theoretical conjectures are provided and the differences addressed. The application of the Knowledge Cafés technique described here is that the major beneficiaries of this event were not the participants but the facilitators. However, participants also benefited, but the transcript of the final plenary session of the Knowledge Café was coded, analysed and used to enhance the theoretical conjecture resulting from the original research. The critical success factors for the use of a Knowledge Café in this way include finding a group of well‑informed participants, the facilitator/s conducting a well‑focused briefing and employing a well‑experienced facilitator to manage the event. In this research, the resulting refined theoretical conjecture is a more satisfactory understanding of how e‑Government operates within its organisational setting.