Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to examine the validity of the proposed integrated socio-technical knowledge management (KM) model, and to determine the relative importance of social and technical initiatives in organizational KM.Design/methodology/approach -The conceptual model was proposed with three inter-related concepts (knowledge stocks, processes, and socio-technical enablers) and was tested via a survey-based study in the context of public administration of a small European country using 185 senior Civil Servants as subjects.Findings -The findings provided a confirmatory test of the proposed model and revealed social factors to be of greater importance than technical factors in advancing organizational knowledge in the case of public administration organizations. They also pointed to leadership as the single most important enabler of organizational KM in these organizations.Research limitations/implications -Findings are based on European public administration and may not reflect other geographic, economic and cultural contexts. Variables were perceptual and measurement items proxies for the real phenomena. There is a need for including objective data, improving measurement, and extending research towards deeper analysis of contextual influences on and consequences of KM.Practical implications -The model may be useful to managers for predicting organizational learning, as well as intervening to enhance organizational social environment and to increase the likelihood of technology use in KM.Originality/value -The main contribution of this research is the discovery of complex interactions among knowledge enablers and processes influencing knowledge stocks. Another contribution of this research is the revelation that (at least in the context of public administration) leadership may be the single most important enabler of successful KM.

This paper traces the changes in the development of the field of knowledge management (KM) over time, through a review of the representative literature and the author's own research. The paper starts by going back to the origins of KM and reflects on three significant evolutionary stages termed fragmentation, integration and fusion. Following these reflections on the KM past, the paper speculates on the possible KM future. It identifies three emerging trends named extension, specialization and reconceptualization that point to several possible KM futures. The first two involve decentralisation and regeneration of prior KM interpretations, while the third trend signals a revolutionary next KM generation. Irrespective of the direction it may take, the evidence presented in this paper suggests that KM has a future, although it may not be without challenges.

This editorial paper outlines key directions for knowledge management research and practice. The editorial team presents the results from a small survey of academics and practitioners about the present and future of knowledge management, and the editors include their own informed views on how this journal can help promote scholarly inquiry in the field.

PrefaceThis book has been written to address a paradoxical situation surrounding the role of technology in knowledge management. At one extreme on the spectrum of views found in the literature are authors who see technology as a key to knowledge management. At the other end are authors who see technology as a peripheral issue compared to social and organisational ones.This book adopts a dialectical perspective that sees knowledge management as a socio-technological phenomenon. Accordingly, it takes, as its starting point, a view that technology does have some role to play in knowledge management, but does not imply that it is the single most or least important aspect of it. Rather, the goal is to provide much needed empirical evidence regarding the "true" potential and limitations of technology for managing knowledge in organisations.Many authors suggest that technology is attractive to organisations because the rapid pace of technological advance always promises something new and "leading edge" to be exploited. This book identifies and presents a number of novel and traditional technologies and situations in which these technologies can help to improve processes of creation, sharing, retention and discovery of knowledge, and thus performance.The book is organised as a structured compilation of articles founded on the most recent research and experience in the field of knowledge management. It brings together diverse information and communication technologies and systems currently seen in knowledge management