An Exploratory Study on the Effects of Knowledge Management: A Contingency Perspective

지식경영효과에 관한 탐색적 연구: 상황관점

In order to explore a relationship among KM context, KM effects, and sustainability of competitive advantage of organizations, a contingency model of KM, which is based on resource-based as well as knowledge-based theory, is developed from the information systems and strategic management literature. To put it concretely, our motivation for this paper was to answer the following questions: (1) What factors affect the degree to which an organization achieves KM effects? (2) Is there a positive relationship between KM effects and organizational performance achieved by linking KM to competitive advantage? A detailed exploratory analysis of survey responses from 79 Korean companies provides the following significant findings: (1) This study found support for the proposed research model. (2) The organization's degree of process and organizational outcomes of KM effects is determined by technical and social resources and its capabilities. Furthermore, the influence of technical and social resources of KM context on process and organizational outcomes of KM effects is controlled by different types of organizational perspectives on KM. (3) There is a relationship between process and organizational outcomes of KM effects and organizational performance enhanced by linking KM to competitive advantage.