An empirical study of the important factors for knowledge-management adoption in the SME sector
Purpose – To investigate the critical success factors (CSFs) for adopting knowledge management (KM) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – an area that has, to date, received very little attention in the literature. Design/methodology/approach – A survey instrument comprising 11 facto...
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| Format: | Article |
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Emerald, UK
2005
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| Online Access: | http://eprints.utm.my/7069/ |
| _version_ | 1848891398872367104 |
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| author | Wong, Kuan Yew Aspinwall, Elaine |
| author_facet | Wong, Kuan Yew Aspinwall, Elaine |
| author_sort | Wong, Kuan Yew |
| building | UTeM Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Purpose – To investigate the critical success factors (CSFs) for adopting knowledge management (KM) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – an area that has, to date, received very little attention in the literature.
Design/methodology/approach – A survey instrument comprising 11 factors and 66 elements was developed. Through a postal survey, data were sought from SMEs in the UK. A parallel one was also administered to a group of academics, consultants and practitioners in the KM field in order to provide a more holistic view of the CSFs.
Findings – The survey instrument was shown to be both reliable and valid. Pertinent statistical analyses
were then performed. By integrating the results from both groups of respondents, a prioritised list of CSFs, in order of importance for implementing KM, was generated.
Research limitations/implications – The number of responses received was rather small since KM is a new and emerging discipline, and not many SMEs have formally implemented it.
Practical implications – The results of this study would help SMEs to better understand the KM discipline, to facilitate its adoption and to prioritise its practices. Academics can use the results to build models that would further expand the KM domain. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T20:57:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | utm-7069 |
| institution | Universiti Teknologi Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T20:57:20Z |
| publishDate | 2005 |
| publisher | Emerald, UK |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | utm-70692017-10-22T07:54:35Z http://eprints.utm.my/7069/ An empirical study of the important factors for knowledge-management adoption in the SME sector Wong, Kuan Yew Aspinwall, Elaine T Technology (General) Purpose – To investigate the critical success factors (CSFs) for adopting knowledge management (KM) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – an area that has, to date, received very little attention in the literature. Design/methodology/approach – A survey instrument comprising 11 factors and 66 elements was developed. Through a postal survey, data were sought from SMEs in the UK. A parallel one was also administered to a group of academics, consultants and practitioners in the KM field in order to provide a more holistic view of the CSFs. Findings – The survey instrument was shown to be both reliable and valid. Pertinent statistical analyses were then performed. By integrating the results from both groups of respondents, a prioritised list of CSFs, in order of importance for implementing KM, was generated. Research limitations/implications – The number of responses received was rather small since KM is a new and emerging discipline, and not many SMEs have formally implemented it. Practical implications – The results of this study would help SMEs to better understand the KM discipline, to facilitate its adoption and to prioritise its practices. Academics can use the results to build models that would further expand the KM domain. Emerald, UK 2005 Article PeerReviewed Wong, Kuan Yew and Aspinwall, Elaine (2005) An empirical study of the important factors for knowledge-management adoption in the SME sector. Journal of Knowledge Management, 9 (3). pp. 64-82. ISSN 1367-3270 http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/13673270510602773 DOI 10.1108/13673270510602773 |
| spellingShingle | T Technology (General) Wong, Kuan Yew Aspinwall, Elaine An empirical study of the important factors for knowledge-management adoption in the SME sector |
| title | An empirical study of the important factors for knowledge-management adoption in the SME sector |
| title_full | An empirical study of the important factors for knowledge-management adoption in the SME sector |
| title_fullStr | An empirical study of the important factors for knowledge-management adoption in the SME sector |
| title_full_unstemmed | An empirical study of the important factors for knowledge-management adoption in the SME sector |
| title_short | An empirical study of the important factors for knowledge-management adoption in the SME sector |
| title_sort | empirical study of the important factors for knowledge-management adoption in the sme sector |
| topic | T Technology (General) |
| url | http://eprints.utm.my/7069/ http://eprints.utm.my/7069/ http://eprints.utm.my/7069/ |