IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bcp/journl/v9y2025issue-9p8386-8400.html

Knowledge Strategy and Firm Performance: The Moderating Role of Organizational Culture

Author

Listed:
  • Henry K. Kombo

    (Department of Business Administration, Egerton University, Kenya)

Abstract

Organizational knowledge is increasingly gaining attention in strategic management and related fields. Theoretically, there is consensus that knowledge strategy is related to organizational performance. However, few empirical studies have examined the relationship between knowledge strategy and organizational performance. Further, the few empirical studies examining the link between the variables have yielded inconsistent results. This calls for research adopting a contingency approach to examine the interaction effect of situational factors on the relationship between knowledge strategy and performance. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of organizational culture on the relationship between knowledge strategy and performance. The study was based on the resource-based theory and contingency theory. The study adopted explanatory and cross-sectional survey research design. Primary data was collected from 184 firms using structured questionnaire administered to the managers of the firms. To test the research hypothesis, Hayes' PROCESS macro was used. The results revealed that organizational culture moderated the relationship between knowledge strategy and organizational performance. The finding demonstrate that the influence of knowledge strategy on performance is contingent on interaction of organizational culture; hence the need to align knowledge strategy with organizational culture to enhance performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Henry K. Kombo, 2025. "Knowledge Strategy and Firm Performance: The Moderating Role of Organizational Culture," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 9(9), pages 8386-8400, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:9:y:2025:issue-9:p:8386-8400
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/Digital-Library/volume-9-issue-9/8386-8400.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/articles/knowledge-strategy-and-firm-performance-the-moderating-role-of-organizational-culture/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James G. March, 1991. "Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 71-87, February.
    2. Michael Lubatkin & Zeki Simsek & Yan Ling & John F. Veiga, 2006. "Ambidexterity and Performance in Small-to Medium-Sized Firms : The Pivotal Role of Top Management Team Behavioral Integration," Post-Print hal-02311781, HAL.
    3. Yuan Li & Soo-Hoon Lee & Xiyao Li & Yi Liu, 2010. "Knowledge Codification, Exploitation, and Innovation: The Moderating Influence of Organizational Controls in Chinese Firms," Management and Organization Review, The International Association for Chinese Management Research, vol. 6(2), pages 219-241, July.
    4. López-Nicolás, Carolina & Meroño-Cerdán, Ángel L., 2011. "Strategic knowledge management, innovation and performance," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 502-509.
    5. N. Venkatraman & John E. Prescott, 1990. "Environment‐strategy coalignment: An empirical test of its performance implications," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(1), pages 1-23, January.
    6. Lex Donaldson, 1987. "Strategy And Structural Adjustment To Regain Fit And Performance: In Defence Of Contingency Theory," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(1), pages 1-24, January.
    7. Zi-Lin He & Poh-Kam Wong, 2004. "Exploration vs. Exploitation: An Empirical Test of the Ambidexterity Hypothesis," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 15(4), pages 481-494, August.
    8. Chin Wei Chong & Siong Choy Chong, 2009. "Knowledge management process effectiveness: measurement of preliminary knowledge management implementation," Knowledge Management Research & Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(2), pages 142-151, June.
    9. Paul E. Bierly III & Paula S. Daly, 2007. "Alternative Knowledge Strategies, Competitive Environment, and Organizational Performance in Small Manufacturing Firms," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 31(4), pages 493-516, July.
    10. Daniel A. Levinthal & James G. March, 1993. "The myopia of learning," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(S2), pages 95-112, December.
    11. Mahmoud Abdelrahman & K. Nadia Papamichail & Ramy Hammady & Yusuf Kurt & Wael Abdallah & Leo Shixiong Liu & Sebastian Kapser, 2025. "Organisational Culture and Knowledge Management Systems Adoption: Examining Employee Usage in Multinational Corporations," Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, Springer;Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management, vol. 26(3), pages 439-467, September.
    12. Auh, Seigyoung & Menguc, Bulent, 2005. "Balancing exploration and exploitation: The moderating role of competitive intensity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(12), pages 1652-1661, December.
    13. Li, Yuan & Lee, Soo-Hoon & Li, Xiyao & Liu, Yi, 2010. "Knowledge Codification, Exploitation, and Innovation: The Moderating Influence of Organizational Controls in Chinese Firms," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(2), pages 219-241, July.
    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. Wenke, Kathrin & Zapkau, Florian B. & Schwens, Christian, 2021. "Too small to do it all? A meta-analysis on the relative relationships of exploration, exploitation, and ambidexterity with SME performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 653-665.
    2. Mavroudi, Eva & Kesidou, Effie & Pandza, Krsto, 2023. "Effects of ambidextrous and specialized R&D strategies on firm performance: The contingent role of industry orientation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    3. Soetanto, Danny & Jack, Sarah, 2016. "The impact of university-based incubation support on the innovation strategy of academic spin-offs," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 50, pages 25-40.
    4. Marina Estrada-Cruz & Noelia Rodriguez-Hernández & Antonio J. Verdú-Jover & Jose Maria Gómez-Gras, 2022. "The effect of competitive intensity on the relationship between strategic entrepreneurship and organizational results," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 1-24, March.
    5. Yuan Li & Haowen Chen & Yi Liu & Mike Peng, 2014. "Managerial ties, organizational learning, and opportunity capture: A social capital perspective," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 271-291, March.
    6. Marina Estrada-Cruz & Noelia Rodriguez-Hernández & Antonio J. Verdú-Jover & Jose Maria Gómez-Gras, 0. "The effect of competitive intensity on the relationship between strategic entrepreneurship and organizational results," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-24.
    7. Kammerlander, Nadine & Burger, Dominik & Fust, Alexander & Fueglistaller, Urs, 2015. "Exploration and exploitation in established small and medium-sized enterprises: The effect of CEOs' regulatory focus," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 582-602.
    8. Lendowski, Eva & Grotenhermen, Jan-Gerrit & Jürgenschellert, Britta & Schewe, Gerhard, 2023. "The role of organisational drivers of exploration and exploitation – Market dynamism as a contingency factor," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 445-457.
    9. Heinrichs, Simon & Walter, Sascha, 2013. "Don’t Step Into Your Parent’s Shoes – How Exploitation and Exploration Affect Spin-out Growth," EconStor Preprints 68591, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    10. Carolina Rojas-Córdova & Amanda J. Williamson & Julio A. Pertuze & Gustavo Calvo, 2023. "Why one strategy does not fit all: a systematic review on exploration–exploitation in different organizational archetypes," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 17(7), pages 2251-2295, October.
    11. Sabyasachi Sinha, 2015. "The Exploration–Exploitation Dilemma: A Review in the Context of Managing Growth of New Ventures," Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers, , vol. 40(3), pages 313-323, September.
    12. Partanen, Jukka & Kohtamäki, Marko & Patel, Pankaj C. & Parida, Vinit, 2020. "Supply chain ambidexterity and manufacturing SME performance: The moderating roles of network capability and strategic information flow," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    13. Choo Yeon Kim & Myung Sub Lim & Jae Wook Yoo, 2019. "Ambidexterity in External Knowledge Search Strategies and Innovation Performance: Mediating Role of Balanced Innovation and Moderating Role of Absorptive Capacity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-23, September.
    14. Vinit Parida & Tom Lahti & Joakim Wincent, 2016. "Exploration and exploitation and firm performance variability: a study of ambidexterity in entrepreneurial firms," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 1147-1164, December.
    15. Oana Buliga & Christian W. Scheiner & Kai-Ingo Voigt, 2016. "Business model innovation and organizational resilience: towards an integrated conceptual framework," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 86(6), pages 647-670, August.
    16. Úbeda-García, Mercedes & Claver-Cortés, Enrique & Marco-Lajara, Bartolomé & Zaragoza-Sáez, Patrocinio, 2020. "Toward a dynamic construction of organizational ambidexterity: Exploring the synergies between structural differentiation, organizational context, and interorganizational relations," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 363-372.
    17. Gatti, Corrado & Volpe, Loredana & Vagnani, Gianluca, 2015. "Interdependence among productive activities: Implications for exploration and exploitation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 711-722.
    18. Laure Ambroise & Céline Bérard & Isabelle Prim-Allaz, 2020. "Performance implications of exploration and exploitation in SMEs: The mediating role of interaction orientation," Post-Print halshs-02570780, HAL.
    19. José Andrade & Mário Franco & Luis Mendes, 2021. "Technological capacity and organisational ambidexterity: the moderating role of environmental dynamism on Portuguese technological SMEs," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 15(7), pages 2111-2136, October.
    20. Ioniţă Cătălin Gabriel, 2022. "Exploration vs. Exploitation: How Innovation Strategies Impact Firm Performance and Competitive Advantage," Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence, Sciendo, vol. 16(1), pages 31-46, August.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:bcp:journl:v:9:y:2025:issue-9:p:8386-8400. 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: Dr. Pawan Verma (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/ .

    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.