An Exploratory Study on Knowledge Management Process Barriers in the Oil Industry

Abstract

This paper identify and discuss barriers affecting knowledge management (KM) processes in the oil industry. Based on reviewing the literature on this topic, we used a conceptual model comprising the most important barriers, grouped in three categories-organizational, knowledge and people related-influencing four critical KM processes-creation, storage, share and application. Using factor analysis, we identified which barriers influence the most each of the KM process and what are the practical implications for companies operating in the oil industry. This study provides useful insights regarding knowledge processes barriers, enabling top executives to better cope with factors hindering successful implementation of KM initiatives.

The Mediating Effect of Decision Quality on Knowledge Management and Firm Performance for Chinese Entrepreneurs: An Empirical Study

“…The new era of knowledge economy presents great challenges to entrepreneurs as decision makers, and knowledge has become an important resource to create and maintain competitive advantages [4,6,19]. Organizations must create a balanced intellectual capital portfolio and manage it efficiently in order to maintain their competitive edge [13,20]. Knowledge management can help entrepreneurs resolve problems and optimize the decision-making process [21].…”

“…It is also the process of applying shared knowledge to solve a problem as part of the dynamic process of knowledge creation [17,19]. To achieve better firm performance, entrepreneurs need to employ knowledge management to improve their decision-making quality [20,21]. Knowledge management is also dynamic and multidimensional, covering most aspects of firms' knowledge activities, including knowledge creation, knowledge accumulation, and knowledge sharing [19].…”

Impact of Knowledge Oriented Leadership on Knowledge Management Processes in the Middle Eastern Audit and Consulting Companies

“…The knowledge creation process is defined by scientists as the process of knowledge transformation through different levels of learning (García-Fernández, 2015;Känsäkoski, 2017;Claver-cortes et al, 2018), the development of existing or new competence within the organization (Probst et al, 2000;Ceptureanu & Popescu, 2018;Mahdi et al, 2019), the dynamic interaction of tacit and explicit knowledge and the transformation of individual knowledge into organizational context (Nonaka & Toyama, 2004;Sun, 2010;Rusly et al, 2012;Wee & Chua, 2013;Wahba, 2015;Little & Deokar, 2016), the ability of an organization to generate new and useful ideas and solutions (Sangari, Hosnavi, & Zahedi, 2015;Henttonen et al, 2016;Kianto et al, 2016) in order to improve processes, identify new opportunities, develop innovation (Wee & Chua, 2013;Ranjbarfard et al, 2014;Little & Deokar, 2016), increase knowledge created value (Rusly et al, 2012;Claver-cortes et al, 2018), and preserve or gain a competitive advantage (Mehralian, Nazari, Akhavan, & Rasekh, 2014;Little & Deokar, 2016;Sirorei & Fombad, 2019). Knowledge creation is defined as the development of existing and new organizational competence (knowledge, abilities and skills) in order to implement knowledge strategy, achieve organizational performance outcomes, create mutual value, and increase uniqueness and leadership in the market.…”

“…The knowledge storage process is seen as turning an individuals' and experts' knowledge into a resource for the organization (Kotnour & Proctor, 1996;Sumbal, Tsui, See-to, & Barendrecht, 2017;Ceptureanu & Popescu, 2018;Mahdi et al, 2019), by capturing and "wrapping" knowledge (Edvardsson & Durst, 2013), by selecting, accumulating and updating knowledge (Probst et al, 2000;Acharya & Mishra, 2017;Dzenopoljac et al, 2018;Sirorei & Fombad, 2019), and by using information technology tools (Sumbal et al, 2017), in order to protect knowledge value from loss (Probst et al, 2000;Edvardsson & Durst, 2013;Kianto et al, 2016) and to access knowledge for decision making (Sangari et al, 2015). In defining the process of knowledge storage, researchers note the importance of organizational memory (Easterby-Smith & Lyles, 2011;Sangari et al, 2015;Kianto et al, 2016).…”

An Intangible-Asset Approach to Strategic Business-IT Alignment

“…Knowledge sharing process has barriers-two of them are self-interest and divergent aspirations. Knowledge is a source of power and executives think that if it is shared to others, their importance or privileges may diminish (self-interest) [99]. Also, executives may have their own interests, incompatible with knowledge processes they are supposed to implement (divergent aspirations) [99,100].…”