A Risk Assessment Framework for Inter-Organizational Knowledge Sharing

Internet-based information, communication, and collaboration technologies are making it easier for organizations and knowledge workers to collaborate across organizational boundaries. However, it is necessary for organizations to monitor, regulate, and build appropriate security mechanisms in collaboration systems to prevent loss of strategic knowledge and competitive advantage. In this chapter, the authors synthesize literature on knowledge sharing and IS/IT risk assessment to present a risk assessment framework that can help organizations identify valuable knowledge assets exposed through collaboration technologies, and assess the risk of knowledge loss, intellectual property leakage, and the subsequent loss of competitive advantage so that appropriate security mechanism can be designed to prevent such a loss.