SECI Model
Also known as: Knowledge Spiral
Nonaka and Takeuchi: socialization, externalization, combination, internalization.
Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi's model describes knowledge creation as a continuous spiral through four conversion modes between tacit and explicit knowledge: Socialization (tacit to tacit through shared experience), Externalization (tacit to explicit through articulation), Combination (explicit to explicit through systematic combination), and Internalization (explicit to tacit through embodied practice). The framework grew from study of Japanese knowledge-creating companies and has become foundational in knowledge management theory, though it has been criticized for ambiguity about what counts as tacit knowledge and for cultural specificity to its Japanese origin context.
Core components
- Socialization (tacit-to-tacit)
- Externalization (tacit-to-explicit)
- Combination (explicit-to-explicit)
- Internalization (explicit-to-tacit)
- Ba (shared context)
- Knowledge spiral
Primary use case
Knowledge management strategy; organizational learning design; innovation management.
Common criticisms
- Ambiguity in operationalizing tacit knowledge
- cultural specificity to Japanese organizational context
- conceptual conflation of Polanyi's original tacit knowledge concept with practitioner-friendly simplification
- difficulty empirically validating the four-mode structure.
Lineage
- Child of
- Tacit and Explicit Knowledge
- Siblings
- Tacit and Explicit Knowledge, Communities of Practice, Five Disciplines
- Derived from
- Tacit and Explicit Knowledge