Shaping knowledge management: organization and national culture

Abstract

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to confirm quantitatively the previous finding that organizational characteristics influence knowledge management, and to assess whether the national culture of knowledge workers equally affects the management of knowledge. Design/methodology/approach-Based on data gathered from a questionnaire survey of a Japanese pharmaceutical company's 14 foreign subsidiaries, the effects of organizational characteristics and national culture on knowledge management were tested using multiple regression analysis. Findings-Although organizational characteristics and national culture were found to affect knowledge management, the data showed organizational characteristics to be a stronger prescriptive factor compared with national culture. Research limitations/implications-Because this research centered on a single company in the pharmaceutical industry, future research should attempt to confirm the validity of this framework in other industries. Practical implications-Changes in organizational characteristics, such as structure and relationship in particular, rather than adjustments in the composition of employees' nationalities, will have a stronger impact on the resulting knowledge management. Originality/value-This framework linking organizational characteristics and national culture to knowledge management had received a first justification using a case study approach with a qualitative comparative method and has now been confirmed with a quantitative approach. Among the predictors of knowledge management beyond the realm of deliberate measures within the firm, the data show that organizational characteristics exert a stronger influence than national culture.

Big data text analytics: an enabler of knowledge management

“…There are acknowledged to be three major KM processes, namely the acquisition, conversion, and application of knowledge (Gold, Malhotra, & Segars, 2001;Alavi et al, 2006;Kulkarni et al, 2007;Gasik, 2011). Knowledge acquisition refers to developing new knowledge from data, information, or knowledge (Gold et al, 2001;Magnier-Watanabe & Senoo, 2010). Knowledge conversion refers to making the acquired knowledge useful for the organization (Gold et al, 2001;Orzano et al, 2008) by structuring it or transforming tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge.…”

“…KM processes enable organizations to capture, store and transfer knowledge efficiently (Grant, 1996;Magnier-Watanabe & Senoo, 2010), and within this context big data text analytics is becoming increasingly important (Chen et al, 2012;Davenport, 2013).…”

Factors Impacting Cross-Cultural Knowledge Sharing Through Online Systems in Organisational Settings

“…Well-known researchers in the¯eld, including Davenport and Drucker, believe that knowledge is the only sustainable way for organisations to create value and pro¯tability in the long term; so organisations try to motivate knowledge sharing among their members in order to maximise their knowledge (Davenport and Prusak, 1998;Drucker, 1993). Among all the organisational issues, organisational culture has been argued extensively to be the most important factor in°uencing knowledge sharing (Ardichvili, 2008;Ciganek et al, 2008;Cockrell and Stone, 2010;Donate and Guadamillas, 2010;Grotenhuis and Weggeman, 2002;Gupta and Govindarajan, 2000;Kazemi and Allahyari, 2010;Li, 2010;Lin and Dalkir, 2010;Magnier-Watanabe and Senoo, 2010;Orlikowski, 1996;Seba and Rowley, 2010;Simonin, 1999;Su et al, 2010;Tseng, 2010;Yang, 2004). Organisational culture refers to \the set of values, norms, guiding beliefs, and understandings that is shared by members of an organisation and taught to new members as correct" (Daft, 2004, p. 361).…”

Empowering Knowledge Sharing Behaviours through Means Oriented vs. Goal Oriented Cultures: The Impact of Organizational Culture on Knowledge Sharing

“…Furthermore, Damodaran and Olphert pointed out that organisational culture -and more precisely knowledge-sharing culture -is the most important condition for effective KM [17]. Moreover, MagnierWatanabe and Senoo stated that institutions with a positive organisational culture are more likely to successfully implement a KM plan [18]. However, one unexplored aspect is exactly how organisational culture can promote KM.…”