A Contingency Model of Knowledge Creation

Knowledge management (KM) has been recognized as one of the most important issues for sustaining competitive advantage. In order to achieve KM effectively, past research argued that it is important to facilitate and leverage knowledge assets. However, few studies examine knowledge processes and enablers that may influence the accumulation of knowledge assets. To fill this gap, drawing on dynamic capabilities perspective and absorptive capacity theory (ACAP), this paper develops a contingency model that interconnects the aforementioned KM factors. In order to test the feasibility of the research model, we conducted an empirical study. This study employed a survey instrument, which collected data from 1000 respondents from organizations in computer industry, finance, transportation and service, manufacturing, construction, electronics, trade, and academic institution. A total of 303 usable responses were analyzed. The major contributions of this research are: (1) develop a KM framework that identifies the impact of knowledge-creating processes on knowledge assets; (2) specify the moderating effect of task characteristics on the relationship mentioned in item (1). The implications of the study are provided, and further research directions are proposed.