Exploring the Relationships among Individual Knowledge Management Outcomes

In knowledge work, it is the individual worker´s innovations and performance that make organizations more productive. Previous HICSS discussions have focused on defining knowledge management success at the organizational or project level [20], but largely ignored the factors that define knowledge management success for the individual knowledge worker. This exploratory work proposes a model of the relationships among individual knowledge management outcomes such as conceptual knowledge, contextual knowledge, operational knowledge, innovation, and performance. The model is tested using a sample of 252 knowledge workers. The results suggest that conceptual knowledge enhances operational and contextual knowledge. Contextual knowledge also improves operational knowledge. Contextual knowledge is the key predictor of innovations that, along with operational knowledge, enhance work performance. The results provide a model for defining and measuring knowledge management success (outcomes) at the individual level.