Resumo

Knowledge is experienced both by experienced professionals and scholars as a valuable resource of the main industrialized countries in the face of the competitive advantage that it represents and links diverse environments from companies to universities (ARGOTE, & INGRAM, 2000; BINOTTO, NAKAYAMA, SIQUEIRA, 2013). However, as far as the debate on the subject is concerned, studies are still incipient to understand the form of knowledge creation and sharing in the rural sector (BINOTTO, NAKAYAMA, SIQUEIRA, 2013) given the great representativity in economic development.

The present research aims to answer the following question: how does the knowledge sharing between generations occur in rural properties of the municipality of Dom Pedrito - RS? In this way, the general objective is to analyze how the knowledge sharing between generations occurs in rural properties of Dom Pedrito - RS and has as specific objectives: to identify the behavior of the generations during the sharing of knowledge; to identify the internal mechanisms used by rural properties and to identify the external factors that influence the sharing of knowledge.

Family businesses in the rural sector Family farming involves the learning of a trade and the management of assets (land and capital). In the activity, the workforce of the whole family has the social purpose of maintaining the business with the family organization. Thus, companies in this segment rely on the responsibility of forming new generations for the continuity of the business in the so-called "family succession" (ABRAMOVAY ET AL, 1998).

Aiming at the general objective of analyzing how the knowledge sharing between generations occurs in rural properties of Dom Pedrito – RS, participated in the qualitative research two individuals from different generations of each of the six rural properties, workers in the agriculture and/or livestock segment, these being the parents/ grandfather and children/granddaughter, who still acts or have already worked for many years in the rural property. The choice of municipality occurred due to the accessibility of the researcher to the data collection.

The interviewees' profile of each rural property is present in table 1 detailing: generation, gender, age, experience, the actual state of work, academic education and area of study (when available). The results are succinctly organized in table 2 according to the research framework disposed of in figure 3. In the following, the sections: actors and relations, internal mechanisms and external context were individually analyzed.

The elements of the research evidenced that the knowledge sharing occurs mainly through speech, example and exchange of experiences. In other words, the transmission of tacit knowledge prevails from one generation to another in a conscious, automatic and collective way (SPENDER, 1996). As for the specific objective of identifying the behavior of the generations it was perceived that the individuals of the first-generation fear a little bit technical innovation. Although they are not cons, they emphasize the importance of making decisions with calculated risks.

ABRAMOVAY, R. (cord.) et al. Juventude e agricultura familiar: desafios dos novos padrões sucessórios. Brasília. UNESCO, 1998. ANDREASIAN, G.; ANDREASIAN, M.. Knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer barriers: a case study. Dissertação de Mestrado (School of Computer Science, Physics and Mathematics). Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Suécia, 2013. ARGOTE, L., & INGRAM, P. Knowledge transfer: a basis for competitive advantage in firms. Organizational behavior and human decision processes, 82(1), p. 150-169, 2000. BARDIN, L. Análise de conteúdo. Paris: PUF, 2011.