Knowledge Needs, Barriers, and Enablers for Japanese Engineers

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to identify the information and knowledge that Japanese engineers want to retrieve from past projects, those they believe should be captured for future projects, and the enablers and barriers to their knowledge management (KM) activities. Text‐mining and regression analyses revealed that Japanese engineers want to access more technical knowledge from past projects and more forward‐looking technology and market trends for future development tasks. People‐related factors were the largest inhibitors to knowledge acquisition, diffusion, and application, whereas systems and related policies were considered major hindrances for knowledge storage. Intention was found to be the strongest KM enabler. Last, engineers' perceived importance of KM appeared to be very personal, whereas the actual time spent on KM activities depended more on organizational factors. These findings suggest that management should motivate Japanese engineers while providing organizational context conducive to KM. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.