Mitigating risks of tacit knowledge loss in state-owned enterprises in South Africa through knowledge management practices

Abstract

Objective: This article explores KM practices in the South African SOEs to mitigate the risks inherent in tacit knowledge loss. Methods:The study adopted a mixed methods research strategy using an exploratory sequential design to identify KM practices and their effectiveness in addressing the issue of tacit knowledge loss. The qualitative data was collected through the interviews and document analysis of 2018 annual reports in nine SOEs across five market sectors. A survey questionnaire was distributed to 585 respondents, with a 25% response rate (145) for quantitative data in three SOEs. Results:The results revealed that the majority of the SOEs lacked KM practices in their structures. The lack of KM practices implies that the SOEs are lagging behind in knowledge protective capacities to mitigate the risks inherent in the organisational tacit knowledge loss. With many South African SOEs, facing all these sorts of knowledge loss risks and a lack of KM practices to mitigate them, achieving the objectives of a developmental state remains a farfetched idea. Conclusion:The absence of KM practices negatively affected knowledge transfer and retention in most of the SOEs. A lack of KM practices will negatively affect their performance and their sustainability to deliver on their developmental mandate. Investment in KM practices will assist SOEs to mitigate the risks associated with loss of organisational tacit knowledge.

Human resource management as a facilitator of a knowledge-driven organisational culture and structure for the reduction of tacit knowledge loss in South African state-owned enterprises

“…Tacit knowledge loss risks are common challenges in many SOEs (Phaladi 2021(Phaladi , 2022. However, many HRM departments in South African SOEs are lagging behind in practices to facilitate and shape the requisite knowledgedriven cultures and structures (Phaladi & Ngulube 2022). In a nutshell, HRM practices largely fail to guide and shape the desired knowledge-driven activities and behaviours.…”

“…In South Africa, SOEs are considered key instruments to drive the economic transformation agenda, job creation and improve the socio-economic conditions of the country. However, many South African SOEs face a phenomenon of tacit knowledge loss caused largely by human resource attrition factors and a lack of knowledge-driven HRM practices and knowledge-unfriendly organisational cultures and structures (Phaladi 2021;Phaladi & Ngulube 2022). Both the RBV and KBV of the firm call for the protection of the firm-specific human resources and knowledge resources through investments in relevant human resource and KM practices (Wright, Dunford & Snell 2001).…”

“…As such, SOEs remain vulnerable to the risks associated with tacit knowledge loss. It is in this regard thatPhaladi and Ngulube (2022) cautions South African SOEs on the need to explore several mechanisms for ensuring that knowledge transfer and retention take place to enhance KM capacities and reduce tacit knowledge loss.…”

Make personal information security great again: A case of users’ perspectives on personal identifiable information in South Africa

“…Our theoretical literature review is meant to establish the current thematic areas South African scholars have addressed and, importantly, develop new hypotheses in PII and predict its influence on PIS. Our focus was guided by South African scholars and contexts where PII has been addressed such as Phaladi and Ngulube (2022), who espoused information and knowledge protection ideas and insights regarding the security of corporate know-how through the knowledge-based view (KBV) and Chigada and Madzinga's (2021) notable concern on the rise in cyberattacks and threats during the COVID-19 pandemic because of users' inadvertence to information security. Our theoretical literature review was to elicit from studies the constructs that would likely predict PIS as a dependent construct determined through examining users' perspectives.…”

Knowledge loss induced by organizational member turnover: a review of empirical literature, synthesis and future research directions (Part II)

“…Finally, several studies concur that developing various knowledge-sharing mechanisms provides the remaining and replacing employees with more and better opportunities for learning, and thus has potential to mitigate the negative consequences of KLT (e.g. Phaladi & Ngulube, 2022). Developing a "parallel infrastructure" (Starke, Dyck, & Mauws, 2003), enabling effective knowledge sharing, is particularly articulated, with a stronger focus on human resource management (HRM) tools (e.g.…”