A review of survey research in knowledge management: 1997‐2001

Among the tools that knowledge management (KM) now deploys to assess its state of development are those surveys which determine current practice, establish benchmarks and offer a quantitative/qualitative description of what occurs “in reality”. The premise of this paper is that a competent analysis of survey research in any domain opens a window on the thinking that the field has on itself. Reports a research program which identified surveys that have been conducted in KM between 1997‐2001, analyzes these surveys for the themes that form their conceptual foundations, and determines through thematic deconstruction the topics that appear to be major and minor preoccupations in KM. This developed a framework of six bipolar dimensions that account for all the organizing logics employed in the group of surveys. Presses this framework against previous research in which Despres and Chauvel identified the structuring devices used in conceptual models of KM. Concludes by making projections for future thinking in KM given the view it appears to be taking on itself.