How can professional associations continue to stay relevant? Knowledge management to the rescue

Abstract

Professional associations across various fields have largely been struggling to stay relevant. Many have been watching a steady decline in membership numbers over the years. In many cases, members who join do not renew their membership. Existing members complain about the association not giving enough value for their membership dues. While the association does all the right things that it has been doing for the years since its existence, there is often a gap in what a changing membership base or potential audience for membership demands and what the association is able to deliver. In such a scenario, what must associations do to change the tide, to continue to stay relevant, to stem the decline, and to attract new members, and retain the ones they have? Using literature from knowledge management (KM), especially Agarwal & Marouf (2014)'s KM adoption framework, Nonaka & Takeuchi (1995)'s SECI model, and Agarwal & Islam (2014)'s KM Tools framework, and a study of the websites of professional associations in library and information science, this paper proposes a thriving KM strategy as a way for professional associations to not just survive, but to thrive. The ideas presented would be relevant to the leadership of professional associations.