How Knowledge Management Systems Support Organizational Knowledge Creation - An In-depth Case Study

Having recognized knowledge's relevance as a strategic resource and thus its importance for competitiveness, organizations aim at transforming individual knowledge into organizational knowledge to provide information for all types of technical and managerial decisions. Considering the four processes of organizational knowledge creation theory, we conduct a case study of one of the worldwide leading medium-sized consultancies in the field of supply chain management and procurement and analyze how organizational knowledge creation is supported by knowledge management (KM) systems. While identifying KM system features for each of the four knowledge-creating processes, we also highlight shortcomings of the KM system that should be addressed for efficient organizational knowledge creation. We thus advance the theoretical understanding in this research discipline and guide future system developments towards an ideal fit between information technology and the organization.