Capitalising knowledge management (KM) for improving project delivery in construction

Abstract

Given the lack of systematic construction industry knowledge management (KM) approaches, particularly in the developing world, an increased understanding of their value for organisational and operational process improvement is needed to improve performance growth through their adoption rate. In response, this study appraised the usefulness of KM practices and KM-enabling tools and techniques used by construction-based organisations. Drawn on a Malaysian field survey, the perceived importance of variables were prioritised using the relative importance index (RII) technique. Spearman’s rank correlation tests were used to appraise the degree of agreement between the respondent groups. Then, a factor analysis revealed five major underlying dimensions of KM benefits for project delivery. Conventional techniques are rated more effective than IT-based tools for construction applications. The association between benefits and tools and techniques were also analysed. This paper contributes meaningfully to the value of KM for improving construction project delivery.