Examination of the Effects of Cultural, Climatic, Structural, and Technological Factors on Knowledge Management Effectiveness

摘要

Knowledge management (KM) has become a key initiative in many organizations seeking to better manage 'what they know' and as a source of competitive advantage (Nidumolu, Subramani & Aldrich, 2001; Teece, 1998). KM has become an integral part of many different organizations (Grover & Davenport, 2001) and based on the increasing level of activity in both academic and practitioner journals, research activity is also increasing. Given the importance of knowledge to an organization (Davenport, Delong & Beers, 1998), the increase is not surprising. KM refers to management's conscientious efforts to use tools and approaches to locate, refine, transfer, and apply the knowledge and experience available to the company (von Krogh, 1998). Generally, KM refers to the overall effort to manage knowledge within an organization. In contrast, a KM system (KMS) is the information technology component of a KM program (Alavi & Leidner, 2001). Technology is extremely important to KM through the capabilities it provides in the form of communications, collaboration, and the storage of vast amount of data, information, and knowledge.