Bridging the Gap: From Informal and Individual GenAI Use to Organizational Knowledge. A Multi-Vantage Expert Study on SME GenAI Knowledge Transfer to Support International Competitiveness

Sammanfattning

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is entering small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through informal and individual use, before formal strategies are in place. Individual experimentation does not automatically become firm-level capability, creating a human capital challenge of how to convert informal and individual GenAI use into organizational knowledge that supports international competitiveness. The study addresses this question through a multi-vantage expert interview design and the empirical findings are analyzed through a layered conceptual framework that combines emergence-enabling states, the 4I organizational learning framework, and the distinction between deliberate and emergent strategy. The findings suggest that individual GenAI use becomes organizational knowledge when repeated use and experimentation are supported by certain conditions. Employees need access to tools and time to develop deeper knowledge through experimentation. SMEs need deliberate interdependence through cross-disciplinary co-location and peer visibility, a tech-positive climate supported by executive and informal AI champions, and affective trust and psychological safety that allow employees to disclose practices without fear of criticism. SMEs should therefore adopt a light, process-oriented strategic posture due to the rapid technological development, with umbrella guardrails for legal and ethical risks. The difficulty becomes calibration: too little structure leaves knowledge with individuals while too much restricts bottom-up experimental learning.