How to develop knowledge culture in organizations? A multiple case study of large distributed organizations

Stan Oliver · Kondal Reddy Kandadi

256 citations0/0 files storedJournal of Knowledge Management

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

Knowledge Management and Sharing Innovation and Knowledge Management Organizational Learning and Leadership

Abstract

Purpose This paper seeks to identify various factors affecting knowledge culture in some of the large organizations and suggest realistic strategies for developing knowledge culture. Design/methodology/approach In‐depth case studies were conducted at six large distributed organizations to investigate and assess knowledge management (KM) practices and associated organizational culture. The core data collection is based on semi‐structured interviews with senior managers who play a significant role in KM programs at their respective organizations. A range of internal documents of these organizations has also provided some important inputs for the empirical analysis. Findings The study identified ten major factors affecting knowledge culture in organizations. These include leadership, organizational structure, and evangelization, communities of practice, reward systems, time allocation, business processes, recruitment, infrastructure and physical attributes. Research limitations/implications Perhaps, the major limitation of this research study is associated with the sample selection. All of the companies participated in this research project, were large‐scale distributed organizations. Therefore, the findings may not be applicable for small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). Furthermore, the derived conclusions would be more assertive if they were tested as hypothetical propositions through a consecutive research survey. Practical implications This study provides illustrations and rationale for a diverse range of factors influencing the knowledge culture. Some of the findings deviated from established notions in contemporary KM literature, especially in the issues such as organizational structure, leadership and reward systems. The organizational dimensions explored in this study provide some original thoughts for building sustainable knowledge cultures. Originality/value The factors described in this paper are based on the existing KM practices at organizations with well‐established KM programs. These can serve as pragmatic guidelines for KM practitioners in developing knowledge culture.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 256 citations exist upstream.

References

1984Case Study Research: Design and Methods 1994Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation.1991Situated Learning 1999Communities of practice learning, meaning, and identity 1990Qualitative evaluation and research methods 1998Communities of Practice 1994A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation 2008Qualitative Data Analysis

Cited by

2006Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning 2009Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning 2016Knowledge management in small and medium enterprises: a structured literature review 2013The peculiarities of knowledge management processes in SMEs: the case of Singapore 2013A specific knowledge culture: Cultural antecedents for knowledge sharing between project teams 2017An investigation of factors affecting knowledge sharing amongst UK academics

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.