Knowledge processes: a foundation using structural equation modeling

Nowadays knowledge itself is nothing new, but how to effectively management it is a concern of all organizations, inclusive of university. In Malaysia, there is concern by university libraries to manage knowledge scientifically in order to keep pace with scientific development and to reduce the gap between Malaysian university libraries and those of developed countries. The evolutionary of Knowledge Management (KM) has become the key concern for librarians and libraries. This paper reported a SEM result that involves 305 lead users at six selected Malaysian university libraries through an online survey. As such, a structural equation modeling (SEM) has been used to generate a versatile statistical modeling tool in the social sciences research. It’s gained popularity across many disciplines, due to its generality and flexibility. This is to elicit opinion of the lead users on the relationship between knowledge processes (i.e. creation, acquisition, capture and sharing) and KM practices. In this regards, the major contribution of this study is to provide groundwork of empirical evidence about knowledge processes and its relations with KM practices at Malaysian university libraries. It is hoped that this structural model could become one of a theoretical model foundation in KM practices in Library and Information Science environment. Furthermore, this research can also be executed in other countries to explore the status of KM practices in other parts of the world.