Knowledge management capabilities and firm performance: A test of universalistic, contingency and complementarity perspectives
Knowledge management capabilities and firm performance: A test of universalistic, contingency and complementarity perspectives
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DOI：
10.1016/j.eswa.2014.09.002
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发表时间：
2015-02
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Jason F. Cohen;K. Olsen
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Jason F. Cohen;K. Olsen
关于知识管理（KM）对绩效影响的相互竞争的理论观点支撑了过去的实证研究。通过对这三种观点的明确梳理和比较，我们为知识管理领域的理论进步做出了贡献。我们提出与普遍主义、互补性和权变理论的基本逻辑相一致的假设，并对这些假设进行实证检验，以确定哪一个最受支持。数据是从在南非经营的酒店服务公司样本中收集的。我们的研究结果表明，普遍主义观点不太受欢迎。通过揭示编纂和人力资本知识管理能力相互作用以影响客户服务结果，我们发现互补性观点得到了支持。偶然性观点也得到了支持，因为发现知识管理能力和绩效之间的联系取决于公司的商业战略。我们的研究结果表明，未来的研究人员应该明确承认他们观察KM绩效影响的理论视角，并确保实证检验与所选视角的逻辑一致。
Competing theoretical perspectives regarding the effects of knowledge management (KM) on performance have underpinned past empirical studies. By explicitly surfacing and comparing three such perspectives, we contribute to the theoretical advancement of the KM field. We develop hypotheses consistent with the underlying logics of universalistic, complementarity and contingency theories and we empirically test these hypotheses to determine which is best supported. Data was collected from a sample of hospitality services firms operating in South Africa. Our results show that the universalistic perspective is less preferred. We find support for the complementarity perspective by revealing that codification and human capital KM capabilities interact to influence customer service outcomes. The contingency perspective also received support as the links between KM capabilities and performance were found to be contingent on the business strategy of the firm. Our results suggest that future researchers should explicitly acknowledge the theoretical perspective from which they are observing the performance impacts of KM and ensure that empirical tests are consistent with the logic of the selected perspective.