Where to acquire knowledge: Adapting knowledge management to financial institutions

Abstract

This research seeks to determine which sources of knowledge have the greatest effect on financial entities' knowledge acquisition and management. A review of the literature on knowledge management examines four key knowledge sources: Human resources, organizational management, technology adoption, and the business environment. The study performs pairwise comparisons of variables through the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), using a scale that captures the importance of each criterion, thereby simplifying the decision process. Results show that human resources and new technology adoption are the most effective sources of knowledge acquisition and management. Specifically, one of the most effective elements is the organizational members' reasoned knowledge (i.e., the ease with which organizational members draw conclusions from their tasks).