The Role of Knowledge Creation in Knowledge Management: A case of Sri Lankan Research Officers

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume VI, Issue V, May 2022 | ISSN 2454–6186

The Role of Knowledge Creation in Knowledge Management: A case of Sri Lankan Research Officers

L.A.K.C. Dahanayaka¹, D.M. Endagamage², and S.R.S.N Sudasinghe^3
1Assistant Registrar (Programme), Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research & Training Institute, Colombo, Sri Lanka,
²Senior Lecturer, Department of Decision Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka,
³Director General, National Science Foundation, Sri Lanka,

Abstract: There are considerable levels of gaps identified in ‘Knowledge Creation’ (KC) and ‘Knowledge Management’ (KM) at individuals’ level as well as the organizational level. The present study examines whether the ‘Social Capital’ (SC) and ‘Information Technology Capability’ (IT) have any significant impact on KM and determine the mediating role of KC on the above relationship in the public sector Research Institutions in Sri Lanka. The study follows the positivistic philosophy and used the hypothetico-deductive method. A questionnaire-based survey was used to collect data and it was done as a cross-sectional survey with a self-administered questionnaire. The population is defined as the research officers in Public Research Institutions in Sri Lanka and the selected sample was 220. The successful response rate is 67%. The findings confirmed that SC and IT have a significant impact on the KM with the model accuracy as 31.3%. When the KC mediates the relationship from SC to KM and IT to KM, the explained variation of the KM can be enhanced up to 61.2% and 45.2% respectively. Therefore, the research institutions should pay special attention to KC while facilitating for SC, IT and KM.

Keywords: Explicit and Implicit Knowledge, Information Technology Capability, Knowledge Creation, Knowledge Management, Social capital.

I.INTRODUCTION

In the modern world, sustainable economic growth is one of the main goals of a country and it requires the mobilization of new scientific knowledge into action [1]. Further, this new knowledge needs to shape-up to fit the existing environment. Researchers play a major role in this context by accruing, disseminating, sharing, and preserving the knowledge to be re-used [2], [3]. ‘Knowledge’ is considered as the most important intangible resource which generates a competitive advantage to any organization [4], [5]. Therefore, managing this resource effectively is one of the crucial challenges of any organization [6], [7]. Knowledge Management (KM) is a process of systematic management of acquisition, retention, sharing, and usage processes of explicit and implicit knowledge [8].
Humans cannot utilize the full potential of their knowledge. Therefore, an organization also cannot fully utilize their human resources potential [6]. It is important to make the best use of knowledge within an organization. Therefore, the management has to improve the process of capturing, developing, sharing, and using organizational knowledge effectively [2], [3]. A “knowledge reservoir” in any institution is much more than the accumulation of the

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