Factors contributing to user choice between codification and personalization-based knowledge management systems: A task-technology fit perspective

The success of Knowledge Management Systems (KMS)---which are designed to support knowledge workers---ultimately depends upon individuals choosing to use a system to acquire knowledge content. The research question is: What task, technology and individual characteristics lead people to choose to use a codification based KMS versus a personalization based KMS? Utilizing Task-Technology Fit as the theoretical framework, a model to predict the users' choice behavior between use of a codification or a personalization based KMS was developed.; A laboratory study was employed to investigate the choice behavior of 105 student subjects. The results suggest that individual level factors play an important role in the choice behavior of knowledge workers. For the selected task, previous system experience, expertise within the task domain, content quality and cues regarding the temporal cost of using each type of KMS each played a significant role in predicting choice between use of a codification or a personalization based KMS. Task complexity did not meaningfully affect choice behavior.