Abstract
Purpose Performance-driven culture has received extensive attention from both academics and practitioners because of its impact on organisations' performance. Employees' tacit knowledge about performance-driven culture is pivotal to identify, as it contributes to increasing the organisation's performance. With the aim of enriching ongoing debate in human resources and knowledge management research, this paper proposes a conceptual model for emancipating and investigating the main factors of employees' tacit knowledge that shape and affect performance-driven culture of a Saudi Arabian organisation. Design/methodology/approach The validity of the conceptual model is examined through a qualitative study developed using a thematic analysis of 134 employees' unbridged computerised typewritten comments about organisation's performance-driven culture. Findings Findings confirm the utility of conceptual models in explaining and categorising employees' emancipated tacit knowledge, providing a potential contribution to academics and practitioners interested in developing managerial processes for improving organisation's performance-driven culture. Originality/value Both the conceptual reflections and empirical-based evidence herein enrich ongoing debate in the area of human resources and knowledge management about employees' tacit knowledge and performance-driven culture.