TITLE:
The Influence of Knowledge Management on Learning in Government Organisations
AUTHORS:
Mohamed Buheji, Said Al-Hasan, Brychan Thomas, Denis Melle
KEYWORDS:
Knowledge, Management, Government, Organisations, Learning
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Industrial and Business Management,
Vol.4 No.11,
November
25,
2014
ABSTRACT: There has been a tendency for government
organizations to become competitive due to instability in modern economies.
Accordingly, Knowledge Management (KM) has been rapidly growing in the past
decade as a source of influence on organisational development practices. In the
past decade research approaches largely failed to show the importance of KM
initiatives in creating synergy with other initiatives to an extent that would
lead towards organizational competitiveness. This paper investigates whether KM
holistically influences organisational learning, specifically in the context of
the government sector. In order to understand the relationships between KM and
organisational learning identified in the literature and increasingly used in
practice, a quantitative survey approach was undertaken using a series of
researcher-developed scales. Based on the literature review Organisational
Learning (OL) was identified to be important in relation to KM, and a
conceptual framework was designed to test the concept of the holistic influence
of KM on organisational learning. Some 625 valid responses were collected from
top and middle management from 54 government organizations in the Kingdom of
Bahrain, and the model was statistically tested according to the research hypotheses
by regression analysis then Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The results
reveal strong and significant correlations amongst organisational development
practices. Even though the holistic influence of the model could not be
confirmed, findings show positive KM influence on organisational development
practices, thus KM is an essential factor for government organisations. As well
as illustrating KM as an important source of influence, this study establishes
a new direction that helps to integrate all governmental organisations’
initiatives in relevance to organisation development practice leading to better
competitiveness. The research makes a novel contribution since it increases the
probability of a holistic approach model that brings support for decision
makers to enhance overall government organizations’ competitiveness. The scale
developed for the model tested can be generalised and used as a self assessment
tool for organisational practices in KM. The work sets a baseline for KM
practices in the Government of Bahrain and similar GCC Governments that can act
as a reference for researchers on KM, learning and competitiveness in emerging
economies. The model needs further investigation in future research to explore
the missing variables to make it “fit for purpose”. This concept of a holistic
model needs to be further subjected to empirical investigation to explore its
viability. The major limitation of this research is because it has addressed
only the government sector in one country.