Knowledge Management Enablers, Processes, and Organizational Performance: An Integration and Empirical Examination

Abstract

Because of the increasing interests on knowledge management (KM), various researches have been accomplished. Many conceptual research frameworks have been proposed and thus empirical researches are required to provide practical benefits. However, most current empirical researches have dealt with the relationship of knowledge management enablers, processes or performance in isolation. Accordingly, an integrated view of knowledge management is missing and thus how to perform knowledge management to improve organizational performance is not clear. In order to alleviate these limitations of the previous researches, this study analyzes the current research frameworks and finds their relationships. An integrated research model is built by incorporating knowledge management processes into organizational performance. The model is tested empirically to investigate the relationship between knowledge management processes and enablers such as organizational structure, culture, and information technologies. The correlation between knowledge management processes and organizational creativity is also identified. Both non-financial and financial performance measures are adopted to measure the impact of knowledge management. The findings of this study imply that knowledge management processes are significant predictors for organizational creativity, i.e., business organizations can achieve strategic and economic benefits of knowledge management by utilizing organizational creativity in an effective fashion. Organizational structure and culture are found to be significant in predicting the knowledge management processes. In addition, it is noted that technology-related variables are not significantly related to the knowledge management. This unexpected finding may result from the early stage of knowledge management in Korea. From a theoretical perspective, this study provides not only a research model for knowledge management but also relationships among knowledge management components. It establishes a generic research model by providing an integrated view of knowledge management. Empirical evidences are likely to help business organizations sharpen their knowledge management strategies.