The Knowledge Management Index as a Micro Level Organizational Diagnostic Management Tool: Analysis and Illustrations with Data from a Pilot Study

摘要

The knowledge management index (KMI) as been proposed as a parsimonious and useful tool to help organizations gauge their knowledge management capabilities. This may be the first step in understanding the difference between what an organization is currently doing and what it needs to do in order to maintain and improve its performance level. Previous research examined the KMI at its macro level. Although the authors found a positive correlation between the index and performance, they cautioned on the interpretability of the results given the small sample size of 6 organizations in the previous study.rnUsing a much larger sample of 38 organizations, this study sought to (1) investigate the KMI at the micro-level, and (2) re-validate the claim of a positive correlation between the KMI and performance. We used the same instrument as in the previous study on the KMI and targeted both public and private organizations. First, KMI were calculated for both sectors. After that, we calculated scores for individual influences of knowledge management processes and critical success factors for realized (current) level of KM and for the perceived (future) level of KM and compared findings between factors and between sectors. All findings are summarized in the conclusion of this paper. At the macro level, we used realized KMI values and OP estimates to confirm the previous findings of the positive correlation between the KMI and performance. Additional findings include: (1) the impact of the KMI is marginalized when public and private sector organizations are used in the same sample, (2) although the individual knowledge processes as framed within the KMI have about the same performance impact, elicitation has the relatively lower impact, (3) the success factors have distinct differences (technology has the greatest impact, measurement has the lowest impact).