Uncovering knowledge management practices in organizations

Abstract

Background: An increasing number of organizations have accepted the importance of managing their company's knowledge in a more structured manner. There have been many knowledge management projects that have been introduced, some which have been successful, but many have failed as well. Knowledge management can be introduced in the culture of the company, which then becomes paramount when the company deals with national and international markets. Objectives: There are concerns as to how to measure the benefits of a Knowledge Management (KM) strategy and its concomitant initiatives on the performance of the company. This paper discusses findings from an empirical investigation amongst 51 organizations. Methods: A mixed methods approach was used to capture the data using many previously validated questionnaires. The questionnaire was adapted to suite the requirements of this particular study. Results: The findings suggest that by providing effectual information systems infrastructure knowledge can be captured, transformed and disseminated to organizations. Investment in business information systems supports knowledge sharing and interpersonal interaction and therefore facilitates knowledge management processes and strategies. Conclusion: The importance of this contribution is that it offers suggestions to design a KM approach by means of a new framework emanating from the findings. Finally, contributing to the theoretical analysis and findings from the empirical investigation, this article concludes with suggestions that may assist organizations to address their KM barriers. © author(s) Creative Commons License CC-BY.