Emergence of Personal Knowledge Networks in Agent-mediated PKM Processes: A Qualitative Analysis in Malaysian Context Shahrinaz Ismail Malaysia Institute of Information Technology (MIIT) Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) 1016, Jalan Sultan Ismail, 50250 Kuala Lumpur Mohd Sharifuddin Ahmad College of Graduate Studies (CoGS) Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN) Jalan IKRAM-UNITEN, 43000 Kajang, Selangor Abstract-Personal knowledge networks have been primarily conceived by researchers with regard to the inter-firm knowledge sources between organisations, where networks are informal and personal. Instead of looking at the organisational context, some researchers investigate the intra-firm aspects at personal level of organisational knowledge networks, where knowledge management processes start and end. In a recent study on agent-mediated personal knowledge management (PKM) processes, an interview survey has been conducted to investigate the needs of organisations in tapping the personal knowledge networks among the employees by understanding the processes of managing knowledge at personal level. It also attempts to justify the knowledge sources for agent-mediation that are not only characterised by the usual knowledge repositories and databases, but also the knowledge experts within and outside of an organisation. The survey covers two main industries in Malaysia, which are Service and Education, in which the sampling of experts for respondents is made on these two industries. This paper analyses and discusses the results of this interview survey, to contribute to the domain of agent technology in mediating the human knowledge worker’s PKM processes. It then recommends future works in modelling the bottom-up approach of PKM-OKM, where personal knowledge networks manifest the organisational knowledge management with the help of software agents. Keywords-Personal knowledge networks; personal knowledge management; organisational knowledge management; software agent technology I. INTRODUCTION “Regardless of how good an individual is in performing his/her tasks, he/she can never work in isolation without referring to others or working with others within the same organisation and/or the same field to achieve the organisational goal. No matter how reclusive a person is in his/her daily social circle, there is a need for sociality in interacting with others when the tasks demand such requirement either to clarify matters or to learn something new related to the tasks.” [1] Numerous studies have covered the importance of personal knowledge networks in managing knowledge, which starts from the lowest level of an organisational structure, i.e., the individual knowledge workers. Another aspect of a bottom-up approach to organisational knowledge management (OKM) is the personal knowledge management (PKM) in meeting the personal goals of individuals that will eventually manifest the collective goals of the organisation. While the emerging trend of this phenomenon has been witnessed in other parts of the world, it is yet to find its niche in Malaysia. Part of the reason being most knowledge management (KM) models, including PKM models, are formed in the context of a Western framework in which freedom of expression and individualism are both accepted as social norms, which do not necessarily be the case in many organisations in Malaysia [2]. In PKM, utilising personal knowledge networks has become a habit or a ritual to an individual who seeks for knowledge by referring to other knowledge experts to understand and perform the task at hand. As common as it seems, it still differs between organisations and even countries, due to the cultural differences in addition to the different nature of work. For example in Asian culture, developing long-term relationships based on mutual trust stands in contrast to Western organisations’ inclination towards short-term goals [2]. This long-term relationships bloom into trusted networks that becomes personal in nature among Asian knowledge workers. In most cases, these personal knowledge networks include ‘reaching out’ to other knowledge sources (in this case, knowledge experts) via various channels, from personal to online contacts. This network is usually built from recommendations and references by family, friends, colleagues, and even strangers, who recognise and trust the expertise sought for. In a recent study, it is found that knowledge workers in Malaysia depend heavily on the email system to manage their personal knowledge. The email “is still seen as the main channel for mediation,” even though it is highly unstructured [1]. This corroborates the fact that the email has been profoundly exploited and heavily relied upon instead of the knowledge management system (that organisations are supposed to have if they implement knowledge management), hence an impediment to the full realisation of organisational knowledge management strategy. With the current trend of expanding networks 978-1-4673-1938-6/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE