| Placing knowledge in the right hands can increase an organization's capacity for effective action. Knowledge Management (KM) is about moving knowledge to where it is needed in an organization to increase effective decision making. The ability to place knowledge where it is needed is referred to as an organization's KM Capability.; KM Capability is viewed as a firm level resource that must be built within an organization. KM Capability provides an important impact on how effective and efficient an organization is at converting inputs into outputs of greater value. The composition of KM Capability is presented as a higher order construct comprised of lower order capability constructs. The similarity of structure of the lower order KM capabilities represents different ways in which knowledge is transferred. Four KM capabilities are hypothesized and measured in terms of differences derived from characteristics unique to each KM capability. The different KM capabilities are identified in terms of the knowledge processes of Acquire, Store, Present, and Apply.; An exploratory field experiment was conducted resulting in data collected from several business units of a large, southwestern US technology manufacturer. Validation of various lower order KM capabilities reflected by the overall organization's KM Capability is presented. Moreover, support for KM Capability's relationship to organizational outcome measures and how an organization's "knowledge sharing culture" relates to adjust this relationship is presented.; This research contributes to the understanding of KM Capability, provides a method to assess the impact of KM improvements, and has implications beyond the current organization. First, the construction, testing and validation of a generalizable instrument provide the opportunity to migrate this assessment to multiple business units, organizations and industries. Second, the methodology of assessing KM capability increases the understanding of how well knowledge is managed within an organization and provides a roadmap to improve the intermediate and organizational outcomes. Third, appropriate analysis can be conducted for each business unit to compare differing levels of capability. Finally, with the use of the roadmap, an efficient allocation of scarce resources can be achieved by targeting specific KM capability improvements within a business unit or an organization. |
