Testing the interaction effect of knowledge management and creative climate towards organizational innovation: Evidence from parastatal organizations in Uganda

Abstract

Extant literature shows that knowledge management needs the support of creative climate towards organizational innovation. However, existing studies have paid less attention regarding the interaction effect of knowledge management and creative climate on organizational innovation. This paper aims to clarify this relationship by examining the interaction effect of knowledge management and creative climate on organizational innovation in parastatal organizations in Uganda. This paper seeks to broaden the knowledge based innovation system domain by including the creative climate. This paper used an explanatory cross-sectional design where quantitative data were collected from 235 managers of 51 parastatals using a survey instrument. Data were aggregated to a parastatal level. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the interaction effect. This paper clarifies the interaction effect of knowledge management and creative climate towards organizational innovation. Knowledge management and creative climate independently rather than interactively enhance organizational innovation. The findings suggest that effective knowledge management practices and favorable creative climate are essential for organizational innovation. This paper suggests the adoption of an effective knowledge management system and a favorable creative climate as antecedents for organizational innovation. This paper makes a contribution on the question whether knowledge management interacts with creative climate to build organizational innovation, which seems to have been less studied.