Knowledge management technologies and organizational performance: a meta-analytic study
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-02-2022-0121 |
| Published date | 13 October 2022 |
| Date | 13 October 2022 |
| Pages | 386-408 |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information systems,Data management systems,Knowledge management,Knowledge sharing,Management science & operations,Supply chain management,Supply chain information systems,Logistics,Quality management/systems |
| Author | Gang Liu,Aino Kianto,Eric Tsui |
Knowledge management
technologies and
organizational performance:
a meta-analytic study
Gang Liu
Business School, Shenzhen Technology University, Shenzhen, China and
Department of Industrial Systems Engineering,
Behaviour and Knowledge Engineering (BAKE) Research Centre,
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
Aino Kianto
School of Business and Management, Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology,
Lappeenranta, Finland, and
Eric Tsui
Department of Industrial Systems Engineering,
Behaviour and Knowledge Engineering (BAKE) Research Centre,
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
Abstract
Purpose –This meta-analytic study tries to synthesize the mixed relationships between knowledge
management technologies (KMT) and organizational performance as well as aims to explore the impacts of
contextual elements, such as national culture, economy and industries, on these relationships.
Design/methodology/approach –Findings on various subjects from 40 previous empirical studies were
examined using meta-analysis.
Findings –It was found that KMT are positively related to overall organizational performance as well as
financial and nonfinancial performance and that the relationship between KMT and financial performance is
stronger in developing economies than in developed economies.
Practical implications –It helps practitioners better understand the role of KMT in organizational
performance in various contexts and provides practical suggestions for KMT implementation.
Originality/value –As the first meta-analytic study to address the generalizability of KMT–organizational
performance relationships, this paper offers an improved understanding of the benefits of KMT. It also expands
knowledge about how contextual issues related to national culture, economies and industries affect KMT payoffs.
Keywords Knowledge management, Information technology, Organizational performance, Meta-analysis,
National culture
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Knowledge management (KM) has become a popular topic in information management
research over the past 2 decades (Sharma et al., 2021) with information technologies (IT)
understood to drive KM (Sun et al., 2022). KM projects are more likely to be successful when
supported by IT (Davenport et al., 1998), which facilitates people’s access to knowledge
(Chang and Chuang, 2011). IT also offer organizations competitive advantages over their
rivals (Tanriverdi, 2005) by enabling KM activities, such as knowledge searching, creation,
IMDS
123,2
386
The authors are grateful to the Research Committee of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University for
providing a scholarship (project code: RUNQ) to conduct this study.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0263-5577.htm
Received 8 March 2022
Revised 24 August 2022
Accepted 26 September 2022
Industrial Management & Data
Systems
Vol. 123 No. 2, 2023
pp. 386-408
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0263-5577
DOI 10.1108/IMDS-02-2022-0121
retention, sharing and application (Alavi and Leidner, 2001;Lee et al., 2020). KM technologies
(KMT), referring to the application of IT to support knowledge processes (such as knowledge
sharing, creation and application), collaboration and communication, learning, decision-
making and problem-solving, have drawn tremendous attention from researchers and
practitioners, particularly concerning the relationships between KMT and organizational
performance (Inkinen, 2016). However, KMT–organizational performance relationships
remain ambiguous due to mixed empirical findings, which inhibit the generalizability of
KMT–organizational performance relationships.
There are some theoretical explanations for negative or positive findings of KMT–
organizational performance relationships, but so far, there has been no study that tried to
resolve the contradictions. For example, Inkinen (2016) as well as Gupta and Chopra (2018)
conducted systematic reviews on this topic, but systematic reviews cannot provide effect size
of the causal relationships, which is problematic because it cannot solve these contradictions.
As inconsistent KMT–organizational performance relationships remain a critical issue in the
theoretical development of the topic, we ask, what is the relationship between KMT and
organizational performance based on earlier research? A meta-analysis can be used to reduce
the heterogeneity of contradictory findings by providing reliable knowledge with a
comprehensive effect size for the relationships based on various empirical studies (Hempel,
2020). Current meta-analysis in the KM, IT and performance fields have investigated different
aspects of their respective constructs, such as IT investment–firm financial performance
relationships (Lim et al., 2011), IT resource–firm performance relationships (Liang et al., 2010),
IT–strategic alignments (Gerow et al., 2014) and knowledge-friendly organizational culture
(KFOC)–organizational performance relationships (Liu et al., 2021). However, a meta-analysis
of KMT and organizational performance is lacking in both the IT and KM literatures,
obscuring the role of KMT in organizational performance.
Furthermore, both KM (Kim, 2020) and IT applications (Zhang et al., 2018) are socially and
culturally embedded human activities, affected by regional idiosyncrasies (Hussinki et al.,
2017) and environment heterogeneities (Domenech et al., 2016). Therefore, contextual
elements, such as national culture, economy and industry, play a critical role in KMT
applications and their outcomes. However, most studies on KMT–organizational
performance relationships have neglected the ramifications and potential impacts of these
contextual factors (Inkinen, 2016). Therefore, current research lacks theoretical coherence
regarding KMT–organizational performance relationships, and the influence of contextual
elements (national culture, economy and industry) on these relationships remain unknown.
To redress these inadequacies, we carry out a meta-analysis of the relationships between
KMT and organizational performance, testing for the moderating impacts of national cultural
dimensions, economy types and industrial types. By doing so, this research contributes to the
literature in several ways. First, it deepens knowledge-based theory by empirically
demonstrating the overall strength of the effect sizes of the relationship between KMT and
organizational performance. Second, to the best of our knowledge, it is the first meta-analysis to
scrutinize KMT–organizational performance relationships by applying secondary data,
particularly in light of the moderating impacts of national culture, economy and industry.
This study outlines if, how and why these contextual factors do (or do not) moderate KMT–
organizational performance relationships. Based on data collected from 40 papers from different
countries and regions, our results add valuable, unique empiricalfindings to the current literature.
2. Research questions
2.1 KMT
KMT, a dominant KM practice (Inkinen, 2016), includes IT infrastructure and its application for
managing knowledge (Heisig, 2009;Liu et al., 2022a). Although KMT was differently named in
Knowledge
management
technologies
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