A Descriptive Analysis of Knowledge Management Research: Period from 1997 to 2012

Abstract

This paper reports a descriptive study of KM research and researchers based on articles published in four specialised academic journals in KM. For each published article, keyword and author analysis were used to discover the main contributors and dominant themes and topics examined. The study shows that KM research is grounded in both KM and non-KM theories, split equally between theoretical and empirical approaches and dominated by the interpretivist over positivist paradigm. So far, core KM elements (enablers, processes and stocks) have been explored more than the extended KM elements (contexts, drivers and outcomes). This might change in the future in order to remain relevant to practice. Published authors are distributed all over the world and tend to be collaborative, but not very productive contributors to KM journals. These findings need to be interpreted and applied with caution due to a number of limiting factors in research design and analysis. Future research is recommended to address these limitations and extend current research to a wider range of publication outlets and issues in KM.