The Role of Instagram in the Externalization of Iranian Women's Tacit Knowledge: A SECI-Based Knowledge Management Approach

With the expansion of social media, new forms of knowledge production and transmission have emerged in the digital space-particularly among groups that were previously marginalized in the formal knowledge production landscape. This study, with a focus on the Instagram platform, investigates how Iranian women's tacit knowledge is transformed into explicit knowledge. The theoretical framework of the study is the SECI model developed by Nonaka and Takeuchi, with particular emphasis on the externalization phase-namely, the process by which experiential, intuitive, and informal knowledge is converted into observable, documented, and transferable knowledge. The research method is qualitative-descriptive and is based on content analysis of two highly followed Instagram pages in the field of traditional cooking and indigenous lifestyle. The data includes visual content, captions, comments, and engagement metrics (likes, views, saves). For linguistic and semantic analysis, natural language processing tools and thematic analysis techniques were used. The findings show that Instagram, beyond its entertaining role, provides an effective platform for the externalization of tacit knowledge. Women, through visual storytelling, experience-based insights, and reciprocal interaction with audiences, have transformed knowledge that was previously confined to familial and oral spaces into digital, public, and participatory knowledge. Additionally, users have become active agents in the knowledge management cycle through their feedback and content reproduction. The results indicate that social networks can serve as a platform for the democratization of indigenous and gendered knowledge and play a key role in preserving cultural heritage, empowering women, and enhancing digital literacy.

کلیدواژه ها:

Tacit Knowledge ، Externalization ، Knowledge Management ، Iranian Women ، Instagram ، SECI Model