IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v9y2017i3p361-d91821.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Knowledge Management in Startups: Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Agenda

Author

Listed:
  • Piera Centobelli

    (Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, P.le Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy)

  • Roberto Cerchione

    (Department of Engineering, University of Naples Parthenope, Centro Direzionale di Napoli, Isola C4, 80143 Naples, Italy)

  • Emilio Esposito

    (Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, P.le Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy)

Abstract

This paper conducts a systematic literature review on knowledge management (KM) in the context of startups in order to analyze the state of the art, identify research gaps and define a future research agenda. The main findings highlight that, even though there is an increasing number of papers on the topic of KM in startups, several issues are still neglected. Specifically, the paper identifies four main gaps in the body of literature. The first gap deals with the environmental and socio-political factors influencing the adoption of KM in startups. The second gap regards the lack of a comprehensive taxonomy of knowledge management systems (KMSs) that may support the processes of knowledge creation, acquisition, storage, transfer, sharing and application. This second gap allows us to identify a third gap concerning the level of alignment between startup’s strategies and technologies adopted. Finally, the fourth gap deals with the issue of the impact of KM on startup’s performances with regard to economic, financial, market, technical, technological, organizational, human and relational performance. From these four gaps, six research questions (RQs) have been proposed. These RQs allow us to identify possible areas of analysis to define a future research agenda. Neglecting these issues means underestimating all the possible advantages of KM adoption for a startup to achieve efficiency, effectiveness and scalability goals.

Suggested Citation

  • Piera Centobelli & Roberto Cerchione & Emilio Esposito, 2017. "Knowledge Management in Startups: Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-19, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:3:p:361-:d:91821
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/3/361/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/3/361/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. K. Evrard Samuel & M. Goury & A. Gunasekaran & A. Spalanzani, 2011. "Knowledge Management in Supply Chain: An Empirical Study from France," Post-Print halshs-00642507, HAL.
    2. Philippe Silberzahn & Christophe Midler, 2008. "Managing robust development process for high-tech startups through multi-project learning: The case of two European start-ups," Post-Print hal-00404202, HAL.
    3. C. Lakshman & Ronaldo C. Parente, 2008. "Supplier‐Focused Knowledge Management in the Automobile Industry and Its Implications for Product Performance," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(2), pages 317-342, March.
    4. Ikujiro Nonaka, 1994. "A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 5(1), pages 14-37, February.
    5. Thierry BURGER-HELMCHEN, 2008. "Plural-entrepreneurial activity for a single start-up: a case study," Working Papers of BETA 2008-01, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    6. Cerchione, Roberto & Esposito, Emilio, 2016. "A systematic review of supply chain knowledge management research: State of the art and research opportunities," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 276-292.
    7. Jonas Debrulle, 2012. "Start-up absorptive capacity: Does the owner’s human and social capital matter?," Working Papers of VIVES - Research Centre for Regional Economics 30, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), VIVES - Research Centre for Regional Economics.
    8. Zoltan J. Acs & Mark Sanders, 2008. "Intellectual Property Rights and the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship," Jena Economics Research Papers 2008-069, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    9. Nowacki, Robert & Bachnik, Katarzyna, 2016. "Innovations within knowledge management," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(5), pages 1577-1581.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ting Kong & Taiwen Feng & Yufei Huang & Junya Cai, 2020. "How to convert green supply chain integration efforts into green innovation: A perspective of knowledge‐based view," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(5), pages 1106-1121, September.
    2. Roberto Cerchione & Emilio Esposito & Maria Rosaria Spadaro, 2015. "The Spread of Knowledge Management in SMEs: A Scenario in Evolution," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(8), pages 1-23, July.
    3. Yadong Luo & Yi Liu & Jiaqi Xue, 2009. "Relationship Investment and Channel Performance: An Analysis of Mediating Forces," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(7), pages 1113-1137, November.
    4. Sebastian Ion Ceptureanu & Eduard Gabriel Ceptureanu & Marieta Olaru & Doina I. Popescu, 2018. "An Exploratory Study on Knowledge Management Process Barriers in the Oil Industry," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-15, July.
    5. Hwan-Yann Su, 2014. "Business Ethics and the Development of Intellectual Capital," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 119(1), pages 87-98, January.
    6. Tomas Cherkos Kassaneh & Ettore Bolisani & Juan-Gabriel Cegarra-Navarro, 2021. "Knowledge Management Practices for Sustainable Supply Chain Management: A Challenge for Business Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-15, March.
    7. Baliga, Ashwin J. & Chawla, Vaibhav & Sunder M, Vijaya & Ganesh, L.S. & Sivakumaran, Bharadhwaj, 2021. "Service Failure and Recovery in B2B Markets – A Morphological Analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 763-781.
    8. Cerchione, Roberto & Esposito, Emilio, 2016. "A systematic review of supply chain knowledge management research: State of the art and research opportunities," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 276-292.
    9. Letícia Castro Peixoto & Ricardo Rodrigues Barbosa & Adriana Ferreira Faria, 2022. "Management of Regional Knowledge: Knowledge Flows Among University, Industry, and Government," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 13(1), pages 92-110, March.
    10. Khan, Zaheer & Nicholson, John D., 2014. "An investigation of the cross-border supplier development process: Problems and implications in an emerging economy," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 1212-1222.
    11. Jawad Karamat & Tong Shurong & Naveed Ahmad & Sana Afridi & Shahbaz Khan & Nidha Khan, 2019. "Developing Sustainable Healthcare Systems in Developing Countries: Examining the Role of Barriers, Enablers and Drivers on Knowledge Management Adoption," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-31, February.
    12. Wang, Zhining & Cai, Shaohan Alan & Ren, Shuang & Singh, Sanjay Kumar, 2023. "Green operational performance in a high-tech industry: Role of green HRM and green knowledge," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    13. Cerchione, Roberto & Esposito, Emilio, 2017. "Using knowledge management systems: A taxonomy of SME strategies," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 1551-1562.
    14. Andrea Kő & Réka Vas & Tibor Kovács & Ildikó Szabó, 2019. "Knowledge Creation from the Perspective of the Supply Chain. The Role of ICT," Society and Economy, Akadémiai Kiadó, Hungary, vol. 41(3), pages 311-329, September.
    15. Lu, Jinfeng & Dimov, Dimo, 2023. "A system dynamics modelling of entrepreneurship and growth within firms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(3).
    16. Olunifesi Adekunle Suraj, 2016. "Managing Telecommunications for Development: An Analysis of Intellectual Capital in Nigerian Telecommunication Industry," Journal of Information & Knowledge Management (JIKM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 15(01), pages 1-30, March.
    17. Soufiane Mezzourh & Walid A Nakara, 2009. "Governance and innovation : A Knowledge-based approach [La gouvernance de l'innovation : une approche par la connaissance]," Post-Print halshs-01955966, HAL.
    18. M. Max Evans & Ilja Frissen & Anthony K. P. Wensley, 2018. "Organisational Information and Knowledge Sharing: Uncovering Mediating Effects of Perceived Trustworthiness Using the PROCESS Approach," Journal of Information & Knowledge Management (JIKM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 17(01), pages 1-29, March.
    19. Chris Kimble & José Braga Vasconcelos & Álvaro Rocha, 2016. "Competence management in knowledge intensive organizations using consensual knowledge and ontologies," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 18(6), pages 1119-1130, December.
    20. Maurizio Zollo, 1998. "Strategies or Routines ? Knowledge Codification, Path-Dependence and the Evolution of Post-Acquisition Integration Practices in the U.S. Banking Industry," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 97-10, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:3:p:361-:d:91821. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.