Knowledge management practices in rural areas of South Africa

Abstract

This research report captures a detailed exposition of an investigation on Knowledge Management (KM) practices in public and private sector entities in three industries (health, education and business loans) of Limpopo province – a proxy of the rural areas of South Africa. The investigation was necessitated by a need to understand KM in organisational context experiencing constraints in terms of resources that enable KM. It was found through an intensive literature review that there were very few empirical studies on KM practices of organisations operating in the rural areas, particularly in Africa. The theoretical framework of the study emanates from the knowledge-based view which has been popularised by the seminal work of Peter Drucker and Nonaka in the early half of the 90s. The knowledge-based view as presented in chapter 2 recognises the strategic role of knowledge in organisations. Its genesis is traced from the theories of classical scholars such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Various empirical studies of entities which have adopted the knowledge-based view are presented in chapter 2 of this report. The researcher observes from an intensive KM literature study that the average modern organisation could be categorised as knowledge-intensive considering that knowledge workers constitute the majority of its workforce. The definitions of a knowledge-based organisation and knowledge workers are presented in the operational definitions of key concepts. Arising from the identified gaps in KM literature as presented towards the end of chapter 2, this study was conducted as a comparative study between public and private sector entities in three research industries focusing on their extent of ICT application and degree of knowledge-oriented social factors for information and knowledge sharing. The investigation was guided by three research objectives as discussed in chapter 1 of this research report. The main purpose of the study was to answer two fundamental research questions as reflected in chapter 1. In answering the two research questions, the researcher identified four research hypotheses in line with the findings established from KM literature. These hypotheses are discussed in chapter 2 of this report.The underlying hypothesised statement guiding the study was to determine whether there were any significant differences in KM implementation between public and private sector entities in the three research industries in terms of four research constructs. These are: application of ICTs for knowledge and information sharing, degree of achievement of knowledge-based outcomes, tacit knowledge acquisition and the degree of knowledge-oriented social factors. Organisational culture, organisational structures, human resource practices and leadership comprised the social factors tested in the study. The research data were collected through a mixed research design approach combining the advantages of a survey instrument and interviews (this is fully reflected in chapter 3 of this research report). The research results (as presented in chapter 4) pointed to some form of significant differences in KM implementation between public and private sector entities in the education and business loans industry, but there were no significant differences in KM implementation between public and private sector entities in the health industry. Arising from the findings of the study, a model for improved KM implementation is presented in chapter 4 (figure 4.16). It was found during the investigation that all the research entities approached KM implicitly through KM related practices. KM related practices were found to be far more entrenched in the health industry (both public and private sector entities), the private sector entities in the education and business loans industries than was the case with the public sector entities in the education and business loans industries. In the entities where KM related practices were found to be entrenched, there were concerted efforts towards improved organisational processes. The study has managed to unravel the importance of KM related practices in laying the foundation for a formalised KM approach.