Differences between Knowledge and Information Management Practices: Empirical Investigation

Abstract

In Knowledge Management (KM) discipline, the nature of KM itself has long been discussed and sometimes even its existence and meaning have been questioned. At the same time, research focusing on the difference between KM and Information Management (IM) was scarce. Therefore we tried through empirical investigation of differences between KM and IM to distinguish the KM from IM and to try to draw a distinct line between both approaches. To fulfil our goal we employed exploratory inductive qualitative research design as not many studies have tried to empirically distinguish KM from IM. For data gathering we used expert semi-structured interviews. The interviews and also results were structured according to 8 perspectives: conceptual, process, technological, organisational, implementation, human resources, economical, and administration. For each perspective, we examined the context of IM and KM and analysed, described and interpreted the differences.