Knowledge Management System Success Research Articles

A Proposed Framework for Designing Sustainable Communities for Knowledge Management Systems

Despite considerable academic and practitioner interest in knowledge management, success of knowledge management systems is elusive. This chapter provides a framework which suggests that KM success can be achieved by designing sustainable communities of practice. Communities of practice have proven to have significant economic and practical implications on organizational practices. A growing body of literature in KM recognizes the importance of communities that foster collaborative learning in organizations and almost all KMS have a ‘network’ component that facilitates connecting people in communities of practice. Evidence has shown that communities have been a key element in KMS of many companies including Xerox PARC, British Petroleum Co., Shell Oil Company, Halliburton, IBM, Proctor and Gamble, and Hewlett Packard.

Knowledge management systems success: a contingency perspective

PurposeThis paper aims at clarifying important contingencies for the success of knowledge management systems (KMS). More specifically, a model is developed based on the IS success model, the resource‐based view and the knowledge‐based view to explain both direct and indirect effects of KMS on organizational performance.Design/methodology/approachTo test the proposed model, a survey study was conducted involving over 100 organizations that implemented various functions of KMS. The data were analyzed using structural equation modelling for the simultaneous testing of the measurement and structural models.FindingsThe empirical results provided strong support for the proposed research model. KMS usage was found to have both direct and indirect effects on organizational performance. In particular, organizational agility and innovativeness were confirmed as important mediators of KMS effects.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of this research highlight the necessity of adopting a contingency theory for studying the effects of KMS on organizational performance and demonstrate the important role of some of these contingencies.Practical implicationsPractically, the empirical results shed light on the significance and relative importance of specific KMS applications. i.e. enterprise portals, supply chain management, customer relationship management, and competitive intelligence.Originality/valueThis research fills an important theoretical gap in KM research and provides valuable insights for practitioners.

An Empirical Investigation of Knowledge Management Systems' Success

Assessing the success of knowledge management systems within organizations is vital. To understand if this is a viable technology that will have lasting value, we propose and test a model to measure the success of knowledge management systems within knowledge-based organizations based on the widely accepted DeLone and McLean [14][15][16] IS Success Model. We adopted the generic framework of the IS Success Model and customized it to the context of knowledge management systems.This research provides an empirical study by constructing a set of questionnaire items to measure knowledge management system success and to answer the following questions: (1) What are the appropriate dimensions for evaluating the success of KMS? (2) Is there any relationship between these dimensions? (3) Does the extent of KMS use vary greatly according to the KMS' system quality, its knowledge quality and its service quality? Eighteen organizations were surveyed and the results are presented here in.

Architectural features of Knowledge Management success organisations

The success of Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) is ensured by the alignment of the technological infrastructure with other architectural elements of the organisation such as organisational forms, Knowledge Management (KM) process, human resource and reward systems. Despite the importance of the architectural alignment and KM, businesses tend to view KM as an information system project and focus on the implementation of KMS. The purpose of this research is to identify the architectural features of KM success organisations. The results of this research help managers to understand the architectural characteristics necessary to ensure KM success.

Exploring System Use as a Measure of Knowledge Management Success

This article discusses system use as a measure of knowledge management success. It is proposed that for knowledge management systems (KMS) it is not the amount of use that is important, but rather the quality of that use and the intention to use the KMS when appropriate. Evidence is provided to support this proposition and a knowledge management system success model incorporating this proposition is discussed. Additionally, findings are provided that show that new users to an organization use the KMS differently than experienced users and implications of this difference are discussed.

A Knowledge Management Success Model: Theoretical Development and Empirical Validation

We examine a knowledge management (KM) success model that incorporates the quality of available knowledge and KM systems built to share and reuse knowledge such as determinants of users' perception of usefulness and user satisfaction with an organization's KM practices. Perceived usefulness and user satisfaction, in turn, affect knowledge use, which in our model is a measure of how well knowledge sharing and reuse activities are internalized by an organization. Our model includes organizational support structure as a contributing factor to the success of KM system implementation. Data collected from 150 knowledge workers from a variety of organizations confirmed 10 of 13 hypothesized relationships. Notably, the organizational support factors of leadership commitment, supervisor and coworker support, as well as incentives, directly or indirectly supported shared knowledge quality and knowledge use. In line with the proposed model, the study lends support to the argument that, in addition to KM systems quality, firms must pay careful attention to championing and goal setting as well as designing adequate reward systems for the ultimate success of these efforts. This is one of the first studies that encompasses both the supply (knowledge contribution) and demand (knowledge reuse) sides of KM in the same model. It provides more than anecdotal evidence of factors that determine successful KM system implementations. Unlike earlier studies that only deal with knowledge-sharing incentives or quality of shared knowledge, we present and empirically validate an integrated model that includes knowledge sharing and knowledge quality and their links to the desired outcome-namely, knowledge reuse.

Knowledge Sharing and Organizational Change in a Leading Telecommunications Equipment Vendor

In 1999 Southern Networks deployed the Open Text Livelink knowledge management system (KMS). Livelink allowed for the centralization of key corporate applications and associated content at a global, regional, line-of-business, departmental, and personal level. Prior to the implementation of Livelink on an enterprise scale, the corporation’s 94,500 employees relied on fragmented departmental Web pages that were scattered across 11 different Web servers, making the task of finding information very difficult. This article describes how the process of knowledge transfer at Southern Networks changed with the deployment of Livelink, and how it enabled the automation of workflows through the company’s Web-based Intranet. The article also provides an insight into how KMS empowered employees, at least until the organization significantly downsized in 2001. The importance of this article is in highlighting the role of people in the success of KMS and to provide examples of knowledge sharing dynamics.

Strategic decision making and support systems: Comparing American, Japanese and Chinese management

Internationalization creates a need to know how managers in different parts of the world make decisions, and how computer-based information systems (IS) can support decision making. Business leaders from the United States, Japan and China were each found to have a distinctive prevailing decision style that reflects differences in cultural values and the relative needs for achievement, affiliation, power and information. This paper examines the IS issues that arise from the discovery of the distinctively American, Japanese and Chinese styles of strategic decision making. The existence of international differences in analyzing and conceptualizing strategic decisions raises doubts about the global applicability of IS such as decision support systems and executive information systems. The success of knowledge management and information systems in different countries and cultures will depend critically on how well IT applications are adapted to the decision styles of their users.

Encyclopedia of knowledge management

A sample of contents: Knowledge management and virtual organizations Knowledge management for e-economy Knowledge management in the global economy Legal aspects of knowledge management Managerial aspects of knowledge management Organizational and social aspects of knowledge management Organizing knowledge management in distributed organizations Stakeholder-based knowledge management in organizations Successful knowledge management systems implementation Technologies of knowledge management Theoretical aspects of knowledge management.

An Investigation of the Determinants of Knowledge Management Systems Success in Omani Organizations

The need to understand the determinants of a successful knowledge management system (KMS) deployment cannot be underestimated in Arabian organizations specifically those in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Reports from the World Bank emphasize the power of knowledge and the need for these nations and their organizations to empower themselves through knowledge management. Yet, very little empirical research has been conducted to understand this phenomenon. This study investigates the effects of knowledge-culture, organizational infrastructure, technical infrastructure, management support, vision clarity, reward policy and economic return on KMS success in Omani organizations. Data was collected through questionnaires and interviews with IT managers. Results show that all investigated factors contribute to KMS success except for reward policy. Interviews reveal that other factors such as training and matching users' needs are also critical. Results suggest that KMS success factors in Oman are relatively like those in western countries, and other developing countries. However, because they operate in developing countries, IT managers in Oman consider that reward-policy is not a feasible policy to promote KMS use.

Assessing Knowledge Management Success

This article proposes a framework for assessing knowledge management system (KMS) success models. The framework uses three criteria: how well the model fits actual KMS success factors, the degree to which the model has a theoretical foundation, and if the model can be used for both types of KMSs. The framework is then applied to four KMS success models found in the literature and is determined to be a useful framework for assessing KMS success models.

Knowledge Management System Success

This article presents the empirical testing of a theoretical model of knowledge management system success. The Jennex and Olfman model of knowledge management system success was developed to reflect the DeLone and McLean model of information systems success in the knowledge management context. A structural equation model representing the Jennex and Olfman theoretical model is developed. Using data from a prior study aimed at knowledge management system use and individual learning, this model is tested. The overall fit of the model to the data is fair, although some interpretation of the estimated model parameters is problematic. The results of the model test provide limited support for the Jennex and Olfman theoretical model, but indicate the value of continued investigation and refinement of it. Suggestions for future research are provided.

Organizational Culture Types and their Relationship with Knowledge Flow and Knowledge Management Success: An Empirical Study in the U.S. Government and Nonprofit Sectors

The adoption of Knowledge Management programs and systems in the U.S. government and nonprofit sectors is rapidly growing. However, for them to truly be successful, involves more than just implementing a new technology that can be acquire in a box; it requires understanding and integrating the human aspect of it as well as the culture in which they operate. This paper characterizes and evaluates the enterprise culture composition using four organizational culture types (Clan, Adhocracy, Market, and Hierarchy), the existing strategic approach for knowledge flow, and the success of knowledge management systems. A total of 341 responses were collected using a questionnaire. Executives, knowledge managers, and many others can benefit by gaining better understanding and insight in these areas, integrating the human aspect of it to leverage the enterprise intellectual assets in the most efficient and effective way.

Modell für die Er folgsmessung von Wissensmanagementsystemen

With the advent of modern information and communication technologies the discussion about organisational learning and knowledge management has found its technological counterpart: knowledge management systems (KMS). KMS are seen as enabling technologies for an effective and especially an efficient knowledge management. Knowledge management initiatives comprise a combined application of KMS, organisational and person-oriented instruments which consider the organisation's culture and promise competitive advantages or improved capabilities to develop and apply organisational (core) competencies. There have been a number of corresponding success stories published in the literature. However, up to date organisations still face the challenge to measure or evaluate the success of the application of KMS. This paper proposes a framework for precisely this task. We used existing approaches to measure success of information systems and transferred them to KMS. Additionally, we integrated contributions from the knowledge management literature as well as results of an empirical analysis about the application of KMS in German speaking countries. The resulting model presents a list of measures to assess the success of KMS. The applicability of the model is discussed using two ideal KMS architectures as well as a case study of a software house that already applies KMS, Organisations can use the model as a pool to select measures from which can be applied for concrete KMS evaluations. From a research-oriented perspective the model is useful to generate hypotheses about relationships between goals and application scenarios of KMS and the resulting success.