Essential changes for knowledge management establishment in a country: a macro perspective

Purpose – By now, change management programs for establishing knowledge management system at a national level for the countries have not been systematically explored. Available studies have derived their critical issues for change management from companies' perspectives and have not considered the needs of a larger scale such as a country and at a national level. This paper aims to fill this gap. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative case study technique has been used in this paper for data collection to gain insights into the topic being investigated. For that, “grounded theory” research approach has been selected by which the collected data from some case studies (European countries) are categorized and analyzed through specific stages. The extracted concepts can demonstrate critical issues of change management programs for knowledge management establishment at a national level. Findings – The overall results from the case studies were positive, thus reflecting the appropriateness of the proposed concepts. In addition, ten concepts and a framework are the other findings of this research that clarify how to design and implement a change management program for knowledge management adoption at a national level. Practical implications – The set of critical factors (concepts) can act as a list of items for countries to address when adopting knowledge management through a change management program. This helps to ensure that the essential issues and factors are covered during design and implementation phase. For academics, it provides a common language for them to discuss and study the factors crucial for the success of change management program designed for knowledge management adoption at a macro level. Originality/value – This study is probably the first to provide an integrated perspective of critical issues for change management program during KM adoption at a national level in the countries. It gives valuable information and guidelines which hopefully will help the governments to mange essential changes for accomplishing knowledge management through their countries.