Organizational Culture and Knowledge Management: An Empirical Study in Brazilian Higher Education

The importance of knowledge management goes back decades and becomes even more relevant in times of change in organizations. Culture, in turn, both as an obstacle and as a potentiating factor in knowledge management activities, causes greater attention to be given to the management of its processes. In this context, an analysis was made with the purpose of verifying a possible relationship between organizational culture and knowledge management in a higher education institution. A theoretical model of this connection is proposed and empirically tested by means of a survey data set of 252 observations collected from administrative employees in higher education. The finding is that organizational culture is significantly, directly, and positively associated with knowledge management and significantly predicts it. As it demonstrates a significant relationship with knowledge management processes, it is advisable that managers pay due attention to the promotion of an organizational culture that is favorable to the effective flow of communication, information, and knowledge, thus favoring a better performance of individual and organizational activities. This article produces knowledge regarding an organizational culture oriented toward collaboration, trust, and learning, factors that are even more essential in educational organizational environments in atypical times and not commonly addressed in their specificities, as well as their relationship with knowledge management processes that, as a whole, are not usually explored.