Knowledge mobilization and work autonomy: from ambiguous directives to situated knowledge in public service delivery

Abstract

This study aims to investigate how public service employees resolve the tension between ambiguous directives and concrete work situations. It explores knowledge mobilization as a social process through which directives are transformed into situated knowledge for legitimate action, thereby enabling work autonomy. The qualitative study was conducted in 2022 within Oslo municipality. Data were collected through observations and interviews across municipal schools and home care services. The analysis focuses on social interactions in physical and digital workplace spaces. The findings reveal that knowledge mobilization occurs at the intersection of vertical dissemination and horizontal negotiation. These spaces include team meetings, open offices, informal clarification encounters and digital forums when discussion is enabled. Together, they enable the transformation of directives into situated knowledge and, consequently, support legitimate action. This study contributes to workplace learning, knowledge management and policy implementation by identifying the central role of intersecting spaces for transforming directives into situated knowledge. It demonstrates that work autonomy, as a collectively legitimized capacity to act, is achieved through socially enabled knowledge mobilization within the frame of directives.