Understanding seeking from electronic knowledge repositories: An empirical study

Abstract

Knowledge is a critical resource that can help organizations to sustain strategic advantage in competitive environments. Organizations in Asia and elsewhere are turning to knowledge management (KM) initiatives and technologies to leverage their knowledge resources. As a key component of KM initiatives, electronic knowledge repositories (EKRs) are deployed by organizations to store codified knowledge for future reuse. Although EKRs have been used for some time, there is a lack of understanding of what motivate employees' usage of an EKR. This study formulates and empirically tests a theoretical model relating potential antecedents to EKR usage for knowledge seeking. The model was operationalized and the survey instrument subjected to a conceptual validation process. The survey was administered to 160 knowledge professionals in public-sector organizations in Singapore who had accessed EKRs in the course of their work. Results reveal that perceived output quality directly affects EKR usage for knowledge seeking. Further, resource availability affects EKR usage for knowledge seeking particularly when task tacitness is low and incentives affect EKR usage particularly when task interdependence is high. Implications of these results for further research and improving EKR implementation are discussed. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.