Understanding seeking from electronic knowledge repositories: An empirical study

Abstract

Knowledge is a critical resource that can help organizations to sustain strategic advantage in competitive environments. Organizations in Asia and elsewhere are turning to knowledge management (KM) initiatives and technologies to leverage their knowledge resources. As a key component of KM initiatives, electronic knowledge repositories (EKRs) are deployed by organizations to store codified knowledge for future reuse. Although EKRs have been used for some time, there is a lack of understanding of what motivate employees' usage of an EKR. This study formulates and empirically tests a theoretical model relating potential antecedents to EKR usage for knowledge seeking. The model was operationalized and the survey instrument subjected to a conceptual validation process. The survey was administered to 160 knowledge professionals in public-sector organizations in Singapore who had accessed EKRs in the course of their work. Results reveal that perceived output quality directly affects EKR usage for knowledge seeking. Further, resource availability affects EKR usage for knowledge seeking particularly when task tacitness is low and incentives affect EKR usage particularly when task interdependence is high. Implications of these results for further research and improving EKR implementation are discussed.

Understanding knowledge management system usage antecedents: An integration of social cognitive theory and task technology fit

“…Successful knowledge sharing through KMSs depends on both knowledge contributors populating KMSs with content and knowledge seekers retrieving content from KMSs for reuse [46,47]. Therefore, it is hard to make distinction between contributors and seekers in that the same individual can be a contributor or a seeker at different points in time.…”

“…Kankanhalli, Tan & Wei, [46] Proposed an integrated sociotechnical model, the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the theory of task-technology fit (TTF), to investigate the potential antecedents to usage of EKR for knowledge seeking.…”

“…Drawing on these studies, effective usage of KMS may be hindered by a combination of organizational, task, and technological factors [25]. Therefore, researchers have long pointed out the importance of matching information systems with the organizational tasks to be supported or automated, as a precursor to system use and subsequent benefits [46,47].…”

“…Rational, experienced users will choose those tools and 2 methods that enable them to complete the task with the greatest net benefit. The task-technology fit model extended with technology acceptance model (TAM) or theory of planned behavior has recently been conducted successfully to predict workplace technology utilization [26], system adoption for accounting decision making [11], consumer online shopping activities [49] and electronic knowledge repository (EKR) usage for knowledge seeking [46].…”

“…As for the SCT dimension, this study follows Compeau and Higgins [19] two efficacy expectations and further divides outcome expectations into personal and performance-related outcome expectations. As for the TTF dimensions, this study adopts Kankanhalli, Tan and Wei's [46] two task characteristics of KMS usage (i.e., task interdependence and task tacitness). The purpose of this study is to understand how these predeterminants interact with each other in influencing KMS usage.…”