Development of knowledge management inventory

Abstract

The aim of this study is / was to develop a knowledge management inventory. Knowledge is an important organizational resource and a critical factor for competitive advantage. The items used to develope the inventory were selected from The Denison Organizational Culture Survey. The survey consists of four dimensions; involvement, consistency, adaptability and mission. Each dimension consists of three subdimensions with five items each. The sample consisted of 1,132 managers and employees in 13 Icelandic firms. The majority of the participants were males or 59.3% (n=658) but 40.7% (n=452) were females. Approximately 30% of the participants were employed in telecommunications and 15% came from the financial services. Other sectors were energy, various services and production. A total of 11 items were factor analysed as a part of the development of a knowledge management inventory. The results indicated that a two factor model had an acceptable and better goodness of fit than one factor model. The factors were interpreted as an internal knowledge management focus consisting of items from involvement and consistency and an external knowledge management focus consisting of items from adaptability and mission. Both factors were related to overall organizational performance and quality of service and products. Results also showed a significantly stronger relationship between internal knowledge management focus showed and employee satisfaction but only external knowledge management foucs was related to customer satisfaction. These results indicate a preliminary validity for two factors of knowledge management measured with items from the Denison Organizational Culture Survey.