| Since knowledge has become a critical corporate asset, organizations began managing knowledge aggressively and thus knowledge management (KM) has become a critical concern for creating and sustaining competitive advantage. To manage knowledge effectively, organizations extensively utilize information technology (IT). IT and its underlying components, IT infrastructure, have been reported as critical success factors.; The main purpose of this study is to develop a better understanding of the relationship between KM and IT infrastructure capability, especially in the management consulting industry. To achieve this objective, a field survey of management consulting companies was conducted. Several research methods were employed to interpret data and test hypotheses.; Through the statistical tests, no critical relationships were found between KM and IT infrastructure capability in small and medium size consulting companies. This finding highlights a gap between previous studies and actual practices in the industry.; This study also provided several important ideas and observations on the topic. First, this study proposed an extended KM classification model. Previously proposed KM classification schemes were based mainly on the knowledge type used. The extended model in this study matched the business nature and knowledge types used in organizations. This KM classification scheme should provide a foundation for building a more comprehensive KM model. Second, this study provided several meaningful observations on the current status of IT applications to KM. This will provide managers with new opportunities of using IT for KM in a more aggressive way. Third, this study highlights the role of human skills. Human skills combine, integrate and coordinate IT infrastructure components. In shaping IT infrastructure capability for competitive advantage, the most important factor is the human skill, not the IT infrastructure itself. |
