This article discusses the applicability of “borrowing” theory originally developed in other disciplines to information science research, and, in particular, the analytical concepts and assumptions of social exchange theory as a framework for exploring motivational factors ofknowledge sharing in large, distributed, information-intensive organizations. Social exchange theory relates to sociology, psychology, and anthropology, and the article indicates the extentto which knowledge has been regarded as an “exchange resource”. This is followed by an analysis of previous work that has tied exchange theory to areas of interest to information scientists. An ongoing research project tests the analytical concepts and assumptions of social exchange theory in a knowledge market, and the potential for such work to generate further theory
