Knowledge Management Systems Success Factors: An Investigation in Middle-Eastern Organizations

摘要

This study examines the social and technical factors that enable a successful knowledge management systems (KMS) deployment in Middle-Eastern organizations based on Davenport and Prusak's [6] success factors. These factors are knowledge-culture, organizational-infrastructure, technical-infrastructure, management-support, vision-clarity, rewards, economic-return, and knowledge-structure. This paper also provides a general profile of KMS in these organizations. Data was collected through a questionnaire filled out by IT managers. Total participants are 31. Results based on single-regression t-tests show that each of the study factors has a significant effect on KMS success except for rewards and economic-return. Results suggest that: (1) social and technical factors are critical for KMS success; (2) IT managers in Middle-Eastern organizations do not consider rewards as an effective or feasible policy for KMS; and (3) KMS is necessary for these organizations regardless of its economic return. The KMSprofile shows that the majority of organizations deploy KMS to manage structured-internal knowledge specifically internal reports. As for technologies, organizations utilize more transfer and storage tools than search and retrieval tools.