Knowledge management effectiveness factors: the role of HRM

Purpose – Within the search of the key factors that explain knowledge management (KM) effectiveness, this paper aims to advance a simultaneously conceptual and practical framework that links human resource management (HRM) and KM.Design/methodology/approach – A literature‐based preliminary framework assumes that a number of critical KM characteristics and KM‐related human resource (HR) practices impact on KM effectiveness. Qualitative methods are used for data collection and analysis. Three knowledge‐intensive Spanish business units of multinational companies are the target case‐study settings.Findings – Systematic patterns are found regarding the impact of critical KM characteristics and KM‐related HR practices on KM effectiveness. An induced framework, encompassing a number of specific variables and propositions, is developed.Research limitations/implications – The lack of a longitudinal study demands caution in the results interpretation. Also, similar studies in cultural contexts other than Spain coul...

[1]  Jeffrey B. Arthur,et al.  Effects of human resource systems on manufacturing performance and turnover , 1994 .

[2]  I. Nonaka,et al.  The Knowledge Creating Company , 2008 .

[3]  S. Newell,et al.  From global knowledge management to internal electronic fences: contradictory outcomes of intranet development , 2001 .

[4]  Carla O'Dell,et al.  Overcoming cultural barriers to sharing knowledge , 2001, J. Knowl. Manag..

[5]  G. Hofstede.  The Cultural Relativity of the Quality of Life Concept , 1984 .

[6]  B. Wernerfelt,et al.  A Resource-Based View of the Firm , 1984 .

[7]  Yolande E. Chan,et al.  Knowledge sharing in a multi-cultural setting: a case study , 2003 .

[8]  Mats Alvesson,et al.  Organizations As Rhetoric: Knowledge‐Intensive Firms And The Struggle With Ambiguity , 1993 .

[9]  R. Grant.  Toward a Knowledge-Based Theory of the Firm,” Strategic Management Journal (17), pp. , 1996 .

[10]  Ken Kamoche,et al.  Human Resource Management and the Appropriation-Learning Perspective , 1998 .

[11]  John Storey,et al.  Human Resource Management: A Critical Text , 1994 .

[12]  Andrew C. Inkpen.  Creating Knowledge through Collaboration , 1996 .

[13]  S. Debowski.  Knowledge Management , 2005 .

[14]  L. Edvinsson,et al.  Developing a model for managing intellectual capital , 1996 .

[15]  Christopher Mabey,et al.  Strategic Human Resource Management , 1995 .

[16]  H. Tsoukas.  The firm as a distributed knowledge system : A constructionist approach , 1996 .

[17]  Fawzy Soliman.  Application of knowledge management for hazard analysis in the Australian dairy industry , 2000, J. Knowl. Manag..

[18]  B. Kogut,et al.  Knowledge and the Speed of the Transfer and Imitation of Organizational Capabilities: An Empirical Test , 1995 .

[19]  T. A. Stewart.  Intellectual Capital: The New Wealth of Organizations , 1997 .

[20]  James N. Baron,et al.  Strategic Human Resources: Frameworks for General Managers , 1999 .

[21]  I. Nonaka,et al.  How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation , 1995 .

[22]  Mark A. Huselid,et al.  The Impact of Human Resource Management Practices on Perceptions of Organizational Performance , 1996 .

[23]  P. Quintas,et al.  Knowledge management: A strategic agenda , 1997 .

[24]  D. Hislop.  Linking human resource management and knowledge management via commitment: A review and research agenda , 2003 .

[25]  M. Tampoe.  Motivating Knowledge Workers—The Challenge for the 1990s , 1993 .

[26]  A. Edmondson.  Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams , 1999 .

[27]  H. Scarbrough.  Knowledge management, HRM and the innovation process , 2003 .

[28]  Wayne F. Cascio,et al.  Managing Human Resources , 1989 .

[29]  Mark A. Huselid.  The Impact of Human Resource Management Practices on Turnover, Productivity, and Corporate Financial Performance , 1995 .

[30]  G. Hedlund.  A model of knowledge management and the N‐form corporation , 2007 .

[31]  R. Ruggles.  The State of the Notion: Knowledge Management in Practice , 1998 .

[32]  G. Krogh.  Care in Knowledge Creation , 1998 .

[33]  Andrew C. Inkpen,et al.  Believing Is Seeing: Joint Ventures and Organization Learning* , 1995 .

[34]  Karl-Erik Sveiby.  The New Organizational Wealth: Managing and Measuring Knowledge-Based Assets , 1997 .

[35]  Fawzy Soliman,et al.  Strategies for implementing knowledge management: role of human resources management , 2000, J. Knowl. Manag..

[36]  Margaret Ryan.  Human resource management and the politics of knowledge , 1995 .

[37]  Donald A. Schön,et al.  Organizational Learning: A Theory Of Action Perspective , 1978 .

[38]  I. Nonaka,et al.  Organizational Capabilities in Product Development of Japanese Firms: a Conceptual Framework and Empirical Findings , 1998 .

[39]  D. Leonard-Barton,et al.  Wellsprings of Knowledge: Building and Sustaining the Sources of Innovation , 1995 .

[40]  D. Teece.  Capturing Value from Knowledge Assets: The New Economy, Markets for Know-How, and Intangible Assets , 1998 .

[41]  David P. Lepak,et al.  The Human Resource Architecture: Toward a Theory of Human Capital Allocation and Development , 1999 .

[42]  Ken Kamoche,et al.  Strategic human resource management within a resource-capability view of the firm , 1996 .

[43]  R. Stake.  The art of case study research , 1995 .

[44]  Thomas H. Davenport,et al.  Book review:Working knowledge: How organizations manage what they know. Thomas H. Davenport and Laurence Prusak. Harvard Business School Press, 1998. $29.95US. ISBN 0‐87584‐655‐6 , 1998 .

[45]  Karl M. Wiig,et al.  Knowledge Management: An Introduction and Perspective , 1997, J. Knowl. Manag..

[46]  Roderick E. White,et al.  An Organizational Learning Framework : From Intuition to Institution Author ( s ) : , 2007 .

[47]  J. Swan,et al.  Knowledge Management: Concepts and Controversies , 2001 .

[48]  Sue Newell,et al.  Knowledge management and innovation: networks and networking , 1999, J. Knowl. Manag..

[49]  J. Hulland,et al.  Managing An Organizational Learning System By Aligning Stocks and Flows , 2002 .

[50]  Carla O'Dell,et al.  If Only We Knew What We Know: Identification and Transfer of Internal Best Practices , 1998 .

[51]  John Paul Macduffie.  Human Resource Bundles and Manufacturing Performance: Organizational Logic and Flexible Production Systems in the World Auto Industry , 1995 .

[52]  Jacky Swan,et al.  Case studies in knowledge management , 1999 .

[53]  T. Erikson,et al.  Intellectual capital: a human capital perspective , 2001 .

[54]  J. Spender.  Making knowledge the basis of a dynamic theory of the firm , 1996 .

[55]  Margaret A. Peteraf.  The cornerstones of competitive advantage: A resource‐based view , 1993 .

[56]  M. Martiny.  Knowledge management at HP consulting , 1998 .

[57]  Liam Fahey,et al.  The Eleven Deadliest Sins of Knowledge Management , 1998 .

[58]  J. Arthur.  The Link between Business Strategy and Industrial Relations Systems in American Steel Minimills , 1992 .

[59]  R. E. Miles,et al.  Designing strategic human resources systems , 1984 .

[60]  Jeffrey B. Arthur,et al.  Gainsharing and Organizational Learning: An Analysis of Employee Suggestions Over Time , 2001 .

[61]  Augustine A. Lado,et al.  Human Resource Systems and Sustained Competitive Advantage: A Competency-Based Perspective , 1994 .

[62]  J. Spender.  Organizational knowledge, collective practice and Penrose rents , 1994 .

[63]  T. Davenport,et al.  Improving Knowledge Work Processes , 1996 .

[64]  K. Eisenhardt.  Building theories from case study research , 1989, STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI.

[65]  B. Kogut,et al.  Knowledge of the Firm, Combinative Capabilities, and the Replication of Technology , 1992 .

[66]  James W. Botkin,et al.  The coming of knowledge-based business , 1999 .

[67]  Jean Hartley,et al.  Case study research , 2004 .

[68]  B. Gerhart,et al.  The Impact of Human Resource Management on Organizational Performance: Progress and Prospects , 1996 .

[69]  R. Yin.  Case Study Research: Design and Methods , 1984 .

[70]  Frank Mueller,et al.  HUMAN RESOURCES AS STRATEGIC ASSETS: AN EVOLUTIONARY RESOURCE‐BASED THEORY* , 1996 .

[71]  C. Davy,et al.  Recipients: the key to information transfer , 2006 .

[72]  R. Rumelt.  How much does industry matter , 1991 .

[73]  Linda S. Lotto.  Qualitative Data Analysis: A Sourcebook of New Methods , 1986 .

[74]  M. Gordon,et al.  PUBLICATION RECORDS AND TENURE DECISIONS IN THE FIELD OF STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT , 1996 .

[75]  W. Starbuck.  Learning by Knowledge-Intensive Firms , 1992 .

[76]  Elizabeth Lank.  Leveraging invisible assets: the human factor , 1997 .

[77]  Gary S. Lynn,et al.  New Product Team Learning: Developing and Profiting from Your Knowledge Capital , 1998 .

[78]  Robert M. Grant,et al.  Knowledge and Organization , 2001 .

[79]  R. Grant.  The Resource-Based Theory of Competitive Advantage: Implications for Strategy Formulation , 1991 .

[80]  G. Winch,et al.  MANAGING THE KNOWLEDGE-BASED ORGANIZATION: THE CASE OF ARCHITECTURAL PRACTICE , 1993 .

[81]  Joseph A. Maxwell,et al.  Qualitative Research Design: An Interactive Approach , 1996 .

[82]  John E. Delery,et al.  Modes of theorizing in strategic human resource management: Tests of universalistic, contingency, and configurational performance predictions , 1996 .