Mapping Relationships among the Enablers of Knowledge Management within Hong Kong Construction Organisations

Abstract

This paper reports on a research study that investigates the existence and strength of relationships among the enablers of effective knowledge management (KM) within leading construction organisations operating in Hong Kong. The literature suggests seven KM enablers namely, Leadership, Strategy, Organisational Culture, Business Innovation, Business Processes, Technology and People. Their interactions, however, are seldom made explicit in KM research and writing. This paper aims to present a model that consists of a set of seven enablers for successful KM implementation to obtain desired results. The paper hypothesises that for knowledge-driven construction organisations to perform well, the seven KM enablers need to be aligned and mutually reinforcing. The paper, therefore, adopts and applies interpretive structural modelling to better understand how the enablers interact. Utilising industry data collected during 2007-09, the developed model shows that many of the enablers are inter-related and cannot be dealt with, in the KM context, in isolation. The model findings provide a road-map to managers in order to improve the implementation of their KM activities to maximise the achieved benefits.