Retention of Tacit Knowledge Amid Rapid Employee Exodus: Implications of Human Capital Attrition in Sri Lanka's Banking Sector

Organizational knowledge is in two forms as Explicit and Implicit. The explicit knowledge contains the codified knowledge which is articulated, documented and transferred. The implicit knowledge, popularly known as the Tacit Knowledge among the scholars, is the personal experiences, intuition and expertise accumulated within the employees. This qualitative study identifies the importance of tacit knowledge in the Sri Lankan Banking Sector, its being lost and implications. The study also aims to explore the factors affecting tacit knowledge loss, the impact to the customer relationship and operational efficiency of the industry. Firstly, it traces the vast literature on organizational knowledge and tacit knowledge and identifies the salient themes of the subject area. Secondly, the study focuses on primary research of the industry. Human Resource Professionals and senior operational officers of the banking fraternity become the population. Accordingly, seven participants representing above fraternity were selected as the sample. The primary data gathering involved seven interviews being conducted among the sample participants. A thematic analytical model including themes and codes such as dynamics of employee turnover, knowledge documentation, formal knowledge transfer process etc, was used in analyzing the data gathered through semi structured interviews. Finally, a comprehensive home-grown model in the light of established theories has been developed for the effective tacit knowledge management in the industry.