Effect of demographic factors on knowledge creation processes in learning management system among postgraduate students

Analyzing data from top Japanese industries, Nonaka and Takeuchi concluded that knowledge creation involves the processes of interaction and transaction of tacit and explicit knowledge between experts and novices that employ the processes of Socialization, Externalization, Combination, and Internalization (SECI). The SECI model is appealing but has not been shown to be applicable to the field of education. Thus, this study investigated whether the SECI model could explain the knowledge creation processes in education for demographic factors in online Learning Management System (LMS) supported postgraduate courses. The sample comprised 160 postgraduate students enrolled in LMS-supported courses in higher learning institution. Data was analyzed using statistical analysis such as independence samples t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). It was found that the Socialization process has significant difference in the scores for all the demographic factors. These findings suggest that for Socialization process, careful review of LMS-supported teaching method among the postgraduate students should be undertaken to harness the knowledge creation processes from lecturers as experts to students as novices.