Performance in Knowledge Management Initiatives: Drivers, Capabilities, Metrics and Models

Manu Sharma, Carleton University, Canada

Knowledge and Knowledge Management are complex and versatile concepts that borrow extensively from literature from a number of different fields. The nature of knowledge itself has been at the center of epistemological debates for centuries and the present day researchers continue to struggle with the issue of how to establish a comprehensive definition of knowledge. Over the past decade, the multifaceted nature of knowledge notwithstanding, knowledge management has emerged as a field in itself as the knowledge based perspective driven by the resource based theory has started gaining prominence. This paper looks at the performance measures in knowledge management through an analysis of the drivers, capabilities, metrics and models that have been discussed in the knowledge management and related literature. The intent of this paper is not to develop the concept of knowledge or knowledge management, but to examine how the topics of knowledge and knowledge management have been captured in the literature from different fields such as organizational theory, strategic management theory and information systems theory.

Using these findings, the conception of knowledge as a process and as a capability is developed and the five major knowledge processes that are supported by any knowledge management initiative are also identified. This understanding of knowledge and the various knowledge processes is then extended to initiate a debate on the "performance of knowledge management initiatives" and a performance evaluation framework based on the "transaction cost model" is proposed. Just as our understanding of the concepts (and importance) of knowledge and knowledge management is highly influenced by the selection of a particular view of knowledge, it is the author's view that the perception of knowledge management performance would also differ significantly across different organizations, depending on how they view their knowledge management initiative. It is our opinion that any knowledge management initiative consists of two components; the knowledge management strategy and the knowledge management practice. Hence any knowledge management performance analysis besides looking at the conventional knowledge management performance measures such as the financial or return on investment (ROI) measures, which try to capture the overall knowledge management performance in the organization, would also have to incorporate two other levels of analysis at the levels of knowledge management strategy and knowledge management implementation.


Keywords: Knowledge, organizational knowledge, knowledge management, knowledge management systems, performance in knowledge management, knowledge management strategy, knowledge management implementation, enablers, capability, metrics, models.