Knowledge management strategy and the effect on organizational innovation : an empirical study of Thai firms

Abstract

Today, it is the world of knowledge-based economy. Knowledge management (KM) and innovation have become the vital ingredients for enhancing competitive advantage in a fast-changing environment. In Thailand, KM started almost ten years but most executives still lack successful models that could be used as guides. It is important for them to make the explicit connection between their organizational innovation and how they use the KM strategy to support it. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the effect of KM strategy on organizational innovation. This study also explores whether industry type and organizational size are intermediary factors in the relationship of KM strategy and organizational innovation. A quantitative research design was employed by collecting data from firms in the knowledge-intensive and non-knowledge-intensive industries. The research results indicate that both codification and personalization KM strategies can positively and significantly affect organizational innovation. The results confirm the beliefs of many, and scattered partial support in the literature, and shed a new light on the relationships between KM strategy and organizational innovation. The results also indicate that industry type and organizational size are intermediary factors that influence on the relationship. This research provides business executives new insights about making surefooted decisions as to which dominant KM strategy to focus and their investments in it. Therefore, this will maximize the benefit of KM implementation and innovation performance of the organization.