摘要：The entropic knowledge dynamics departs from the iceberg metaphor used for the explicit and tacit knowledgeby introducing the energy metaphor, which leads to the multifield theory of organizational knowledge. According to thistheory, there are three fundamental fields of knowledge: rational, emotional, and spiritual. Each of these fields transformscontinuously into another field, creating a synergy effect which impacts the decision making process. In this front, thepurpose of this paper is to describe the new entropic dynamics approach and to investigate its impact on the decisionmakingprocess by using quantitative research methods. Experts in a workshop debated on the role played by each field ofknowledge and the entropic dynamics on decision making. Then, a questionnaire has been developed containing 30questions structured on two levels of complexity. The first level contains questions addressing the role played by each ofthe three forms of knowledge on decision making while the second level contains questions addressing the way knowledgedynamics impacts decision making. Since we are interested in the generic phenomena of decision making and the roleplayed by knowledge dynamics, we invited students in management and business administration from two importantuniversities in Romania to participate in the questionnaire-based survey during January and February 2017. Finally, 399valid questionnaires were retrieved. This research demonstrates that students attach the highest importance to theEntropic Knowledge Dynamics, thus, identifying knowledge transformations and interactions as the most prominent factor.The entropic knowledge dynamics shows up as a driving force of the decision-making process. As the findings alsoindicated, there are no statistically significant differences among the cohorts of students in terms of gender and educationlevel; nevertheless, setting the faculty year as criterion brings forward novel insights in that three out of the fourconsidered knowledge dimensions displayed meaningful differences.
关键词：rational knowledge; emotional knowledge; spiritual knowledge; knowledge dynamics; decision making;multifield theory of organizational knowledge
