Cahier de recherche N°14 - ESC Pau

3.2 - The social, relational nature of expertiseThe psychological predispositions of experts are expressed in terms of intellectual challenge, relatingto an insatiable thirst to learn and explore new things. Moreover, expertise is also nurtured in a socialcontext, as stressed by the interviewees.When we asked the experts about what motivates experts to share their expertise and how they view theprocess of transferring David, a specialist in uncertainty assessment says that: «to have expertise withouttransferring, it is nonsense”. Because expertise is an attribute bestowed upon experts by others, it canonly manifest itself in acts of sharing and helping others solve concrete problems. Without this, an expertwould not be recognized as such.Moreover, we were surprised to learn that for the experts, transferring knowledge is a process of learning,or rather, of co-learning. For Nicholas there is no distinction between knowledge transfer and knowledgecreation: «You are neither a source only, nor just a recipient, you are both, that is, a knowledge creator.(...) when you discuss with somebody you are engaged in a knowledge-creation process rather than justa transfer process. (...) You cannot learn alone, it makes no sense». Maria seconds this: «when you workwith others, you always learn something». John maintains that “when learners are curious and highlymotivated we feel that our efforts are meaningful and thus more motivated to work with them”.Consequently, they claim that KT requires curiosity, enthusiasm and passion. As contended by Maria,curiosity has an impact not only on the acquisition of knowledge, but also on its transfer: «What motivatesan expert is this permanent thirst for learning, this willingness to learn but also to share it». Adamadds that «If you are curious, if you like to discover, to share your knowledge with others you are able todiscover new knowledge, because sometimes novices beat an expert”.The process of transferring knowledge has parallels with that of learning it. Björn sees being an expertas «a constant search for the unknown, a compulsion to learn new things every day, and since being anexpert means that you spend most of your time interacting with others, you are bound to learn from theseexchanges». The practice of being an expert implies working with others and it is from those interactionsthat experts learn. Since experts learn while interacting with others, their passion to learn is their passionto transfer their learning. For Justin you need «enthusiasm to touch people where they are sensitive, (...)it goes beyond rationality, it is not related to cognition, although it deals sometimes with how certaintechnologies function».Several interviewees emphasized the significance of emotional drives (curiosity, enthusiasm and passion)as motives for learning/transferring expertise. Social interactions are the appropriate context for learningand sharing knowledge.3.3 - Sustaining and reproducing expertiseSocial relatedness, such as the feeling of being competent, emerged as pertinent: “I personally feel thatpublic acknowledgement is a strong motivator for an expert like me … I get a feeling of satisfaction whenI see that people recognize my competence and that they really listen to what I have got to say…Doingyour job well is a fundamental issue of expertise. This links expertise to the feeling of belonging to a community.The feeling of contributing to the collective performance is a very strong motivator to transferingknowledge” (Frederich). Finally, John who is about to retire, says: “The fact that I am not going to stayhere for long, and because I am not going to need my expertise anymore, it is crucial for me to see it live28CAHIERdeRECHERCHE N°14