Conceptions of wisdom

This article reports exploratory research on the meanings associated with the concept of wisdom by two groups of intending information professionals. Concern for the limited success of knowledge management initiatives and the complexity and hyperturbulence of organizational environments has provoked discussion of the role of wisdom in organizations, management, leadership, and decision making. A literature review provides a distillation of the literature on the notion of wisdom as a foundation for investigating the alignment between these perspectives and those of the respondents. Data was collected through a survey using one open question. The findings of the content analysis of the responses are reported and discussed. It is evident that wisdom is a polysemantic concept, but that there is some level of agreement that knowledge, experience and action are key aspects of wisdom; but there is very little allusion to possible ethical and spiritual dimensions of wisdom.