Using Baidu Index to Investigate the Spatiotemporal Characteristics of Knowledge Management in China

Abstract

In the era of knowledge economy, knowledge has become the guide to creating economic and social value. Knowledge economy calls for knowledge management, and modern knowledge management is a new management theory and management method emerging in the time of knowledge economy, which explains the relevance of this research. Baidu is the largest Chinese search engine in the world, and the Baidu Index developed by Baidu is one of the most important statistical analysis platforms of the Internet and even the whole data age. The purpose of this paper is to investigate spatiotemporal characteristics of Chinese public attention to knowledge management through the Baidu index. Text analysis and process tracing are used to explain the reasons for the spatial and temporal characteristics of the Chinese public's attention to knowledge management. Through Baidu index network search engine, this paper analyses search trend, demand graph, and demographic and geographic distribution. This paper selects the time period from January 1, 2011 to January 1, 2022. The results of the study show that the search trend of "knowledge management" in the past 11 years peaked at the end of 2016, and the decrease appeared around the Spring Festival and National Day each year. "Learning organization", "knowledge base" and "information management" are the words most concerned by the public. It was stated that the groups concerned about “knowledge management” were mainly distributed in Guangdong, Beijing, and Shanghai. Among them, the predominant group was male aged 20-29. The factors that affect the changes in the search volume of “knowledge management” mainly include the traditional Chinese holidays, the Spring Festival, the National Day, and the release of knowledge management-related norms. In addition, the study found similar search trends for “knowledge management” and “knowledge management system”. This paper only takes "knowledge management" in Baidu Index as the research object. Whether it is suitable for all network engines, needs to be tested furtherly