Date of Conferral
2021
Degree
Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.)
School
Business Administration
Advisor
Edward Walker
Abstract
Globalization has increased the turnover of skilled employees who resign without transferring their tacit knowledge, which makes up 85% of organizational knowledge. Insurance agency owner-managers who fail to transfer knowledge from employees who resign negatively impact their firm financially due to repetitive efforts, the loss of time and resources, and organizational failure. Grounded in complexity leadership theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore the strategies insurance agency owner-managers use to retain tacit knowledge from employees who resign. The participants comprised six insurance agency owner-managers in Southern Connecticut who successfully used strategies to retain tacit knowledge from employees who resigned. Data were collected from semistructured interviews and examining the organizations’ policies and internal records relating to knowledge retention strategies. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Three themes emerged: knowledge-sharing strategies, employee development strategies, and customer-centric strategies. A key recommendation is for insurance agency owner-managers to identify and mitigate tacit knowledge-sharing barriers and incorporate knowledge-sharing practices into their business models, which requires effective communication, consistency, and inclusion into knowledge-sharing processes. The implications for social change include the potential for insurance agency owner-managers to increase shared values and long-term prosperity of clients and consumers, make financial contributions to communities, and create new employment opportunities.
Recommended Citation
Dolphin Jr, Danny G., "Employee Resignation: Strategies to Retain Tacit Knowledge" (2021). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 10115.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/10115
