How regulatory knowledge emerges: A multi-stage qualitative examination of boundary work across tacit and codified channels

Internal processes assist companies in meeting their regulatory obligations; however, there are limited studies focused on how organizations obtain and keep the knowledge necessary to comply with various regulations. This research focuses specifically on the ways that employees use boundary-spanning activities and both tacit and codified knowledge when dealing with compliance regulations in their daily work. Prolific was used to collect data from 34 professionals from various industries and managerial levels, utilizing a multi-stage qualitative technique. The Gioia analysis shows four interrelated boundary processes—demarcation, spanning, blurring, and reinforcement—that organizations use to navigate regulatory interpretations. The findings also show that firms employ socio-material factors like documentation, templates, dashboards, and review routines to determine flexibility or rigorous rule adherence. How organizations use review, testing, and walkthrough procedures to formalize experience-based standards to meet compliance requirements while staying true to operational reality was also unearthed. This study considers regulatory knowledge as a dynamic, practice-based process rather than a legal or technical activity by merging Boundary Work Theory with the Practice-Based View (PBV) and focuses on the use of tacit and codified knowledge. It also advances regulatory and organisational theory and helps firms improve their internal regulatory processes.