ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the construct of tacit knowledge that motivates all of the work. It also describes a series of experiments with adults that illustrates the nature, use, and acquisition of tacit knowledge in a variety of careers, including college professors, business executives, and sales people. The chapter describes experiments done with children that show that tacit knowledge can be taught. The independent variables in the study were tacit knowledge about managing oneself and one's career, as well as group membership. The new theory and test separated global versus local tacit knowledge, and also distinguished between people's conceptions of real versus ideal jobs. The independent variables in the experiment were local versus global tacit knowledge, and membership in the salesperson versus undergraduate. For global tacit knowledge, the mean for salespeople was 110 versus 92 for the undergraduates. Tacit knowledge predicts both academic performance and adjustment in college, and is not only in occupational settings, but in school settings as well.
