Knowledge management practices and innovation performance in Finland

Abstract

Purpose – Recent empirical studies have suggested that knowledge-based issues are closely related to companies’ innovation performance. However, the majority of research seems to be focused either on static knowledge assets or knowledge processes such as knowledge creation. The purpose of this paper is to concentrate on the conscious and systematic managerial activities for dealing with knowledge in firms (i.e. knowledge management (KM) practices), which aim at innovation performance improvements through proactive management of knowledge assets. The study explores the impact that KM practices have on innovation performance. Design/methodology/approach – The authors provide empirical evidence on how various KM practices influence innovation performance. The results are based on survey data collected in Finland during fall 2013. The authors use partial least squares to test the hypothesized relationships between KM practices and innovation performance. Findings – The authors find that firms are capable of supporting innovation performance through strategic management of knowledge and competence, knowledge-based compensation practices, and information technology practices. The authors also point out that some of the studied KM practices are not directly associated with innovation performance. Originality/value – This study adds to the knowledge-based view of the firm by demonstrating the significance of the management of knowledge for innovation performance. Furthermore, the division of KM practices into ten types and the provision of the validated scales for measuring these add to the general understanding of KM as a field of theory and practice. This study is valuable also from managerial perspective, as it sheds light on the potentially most effective KM practices to improve companies’ innovation performance.

Impact of knowledge management processes on business performance: Evidence from Kuwait

“…Davenport and Prusak (1998), conversely, underline the importance of linking KM practices into organizational strategy in order to enhance the innovative performance of a company. Apart from that, there is a vast number of studies providing empirical evidence regarding the relationship between KM and innovation (Darroch, 2005;Darroch & McNaughton, 2003;Inkinen, Kianto, & Vanhala, 2015;Lin, Che, & Ting, 2012;Wang & Han, 2011).…”

Knowledge Sharing Process Between Radiologist.

“…Although three main actions have been identified to share knowledge, radiologists prefer to interact face-to-face with other radiologists belonging to the subgroup because they have more common interests. Specifically, in relation to tacit knowledge sharing practices, the relationships of orientation, narration, peer review, and lessons learned have proven to be more suitable for this purpose (Inkinen et al, 2015). Organizations 1 and 3, which promote environments to share knowledge, can facilitate outsourcing and sharing of tacit knowledge.…”

A study of KM critical success factors in Greek academic libraries

“…Knowledge management has been recognized as an effective tool for achieving competitive advantage, for improving service quality (Nguyen and Mohamed, 2011) and for increasing innovation, through the proactive management and successful utilization of an organization's knowledge assets (Inkinen et al, 2015;Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995). These benefits of KM adoption are also essential for libraries, as they face a number of challenges.…”