Electronic Performance Support, E-Learning, and Knowledge Management

The key outcome of the current transition from the “old economy” to the “new economy” is the dramatic shift from investments in physical capital to investments in intellectual capital. Today, approximately 70% of a country’s wealth is in human capital as opposed to physical capital, as estimated by Gary S. Becker, Nobel laureate and professor of economics and sociology at the University of Chicago (Ruttenbur, Spickler, & Lurie, 2000). In the knowledge-based economy, organizations as well as individuals need to focus on protecting and enhancing their biggest asset: their knowledge capital. The increasing economic importance of knowledge is blurring the boundary lines for work arrangements and the links between education, work, and learning. Today, business needs workers who can perform, but to perform well they need timely, relevant, and task-specific knowledge, learning opportunities, and guidance. Traditional means of knowledge support ranging from conventional classroom training to computer-based training are becoming severely limited. At the same time, managers are voicing dissatisfaction with the IT investments in the workplaces because of unrealized productivity gains. Most often it is because of the fact that IT is adopted but not exploited properly.