Impact of Knowledge Management Practices on Task Knowledge: An Individual Level Study

Organizational level studies of knowledge management have been hampered by the lack of measures of individual level knowledge management practices and outcomes that can be used as success criteria to determine whether, or to what degree, specific organizational knowledge management practices enhance individual knowledge creation, sharing, and application at the individual level. This paper explores how the knowledge management practices of individuals are related to the task knowledge they use to complete their work processes. The measures presented can be used as one way to evaluate the success of organizational knowledge management practices. Specifically, the paper explores the individual practices of knowledge creation, knowledge sharing, and knowledge application and how these practices are related to the task knowledge (conceptual, contextual, and operational knowledge) of individuals. A model of the relationships among knowledge management practices and task knowledge components is proposed and tested. Structural equation modeling is used. Results suggest that engaging in knowledge creation enhances an individual’s task knowledge through the practices of sharing and applying knowledge. Knowledge sharing and application enhance operational knowledge indirectly through changes in conceptual and contextual knowledge.