Guest editorial “Knowledge management systems in the digital age”

Abstract

Research and practice have long acknowledged the importance of managing knowledge as a strategic source for organisational growth, competitiveness, sustainability, and innovation (e.g., Boisot, 1998; Bolisani & Bratianu, 2018; Carayannis et al., 2021; Carlucci & Schiuma, 2007; Grant, 1996; Heisig et al., 2016; Holsapple, 2005; Nonaka & Takeuchi, 2019; Schiuma et al., 2012; Sirmon et al., 2011; Teece, 2007). In today’s digital age technological advances have further pushed the need for Knowledge Management (KM) to the forefront. Data “explosion” and the development of advanced technologies are changing the way organisations manage, combine and deploy data, information and knowledge, take strategic decisions, operate their business models, and drive value creation mechanisms to meet diversified stakeholders’ wants and needs (Gavrilova et al., 2017). Additionally, the recent fastpaced changes of socio-economic scenario are forcing organisations to ensure optimal utilisation of critical knowledge and search for more efficient and agile approaches to knowledge creation and management (Bratianu, 2020; Bratianu & Bejinaru, 2021). Thus, organisations are rethinking their ways of acquiring or generating new knowledge, applying current knowledge, retaining and storing existing knowledge, sharing and transferring knowledge, and handling obsolete or invalid knowledge. In other terms, they are rethinking their KM systems (KMSs) to face the pervasive digitalisation with its challenges and opportunities and to thrive in the VUCA world. KMS has been conceptualised in different ways over the years. KMS has been defined as a collection of techniques and strategies to analyse, organise, improve, distribute, maintain, and share knowledge and experience in an organisation (e.g., Massingham, 2014; Nainar, 2016; Singh, 2007). Focusing on the tacit or explicit nature of knowledge, KMS has been also described as a system that, through information technology, facilitates the capture, storage, search, transfer and reuse of tacit and explicit knowledge in an organisation and can aid an organisation to transform tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge (Alavi & Leidner, 2001; Wang et al., 2016). Recently, the inclusion of knowledge and KMS within the released ISO 9001 and ISO 30401 (International Standards Organization (ISO), 2015; International Standards Organization (ISO), 2018), has marked a further change for KMS and has provided a long-awaited level of legitimacy also for this management system (Kudryavtsev and Sadykova, 2019; Pawlowsky et al., 2021). According to ISO 30401 (International Standards Organization (ISO), 2018) the purpose of this standard for KM is to support organisations to develop a KMS that effectively promotes and enables value-creation through knowledge. For this reason, an organisation shall establish, implement, maintain, and continually improve a KMS, which is understood as a part of a management system concerning knowledge, where system elements include the organisation’s KM culture, structure, governance and leadership, roles and responsibilities, planning, technology, processes and operation, etc. (International Standards Organization (ISO), 2018). Nowadays the development and exploitation of a well-thought KMS are essential to harness the real potential of the digital revolution and allow an organisation to have an integrated strategy and a holistic approach towards KM in the digital era. Moreover, because of the accelerating pace of change in competitive scenarios, organisations have to continuously rethink their KMS, in order to become more and more resilient and respond to unexpected challenges, by properly exploiting opportunities offered by digital technologies. This special issue aimed to attract rigorous research studies from scholars all over the world providing fresh insights about approaches, models, processes, and tools of KMSs for the timely and effective harnessing of the potential of such systems in the digital era. The papers of the special issue could not have been more diverse. This is clearly related to the far-reaching of ongoing various changes in the socio-economic scenario and the comprehensive role of digital technology in influencing and dealing with them. The studies reflect this variety and make the special issue particularly rich. Although the papers deal with many different specific issues and adopt different perspectives of analysis, the underlying theme is the role of KMS and digital technology in helping individuals and organisations survive, adapt to, or even take advantage of this new and more and more unpredictable digital age. The next section presents the synopsis of the papers included in this special issue.