Knowledge‐based structures and organisational commitment

Organisational commitment, the emotional attachment of an employee to the employing organisation, has attracted a substantial body of literature, relating the concept to various antecedents, including organisational structure, and to a range of consequences, including financially important performance factors such as productivity and staff turnover. The new areas of knowledge management and learning organisations offer substantial promise as imperatives for the organisation of business enterprises. As organisations in the contemporary environment adopt knowledge‐based structures to improve their competitive position, there is value in examining these structures against other performance related factors. Theoretical knowledge‐based structures put forward by Miles et al. and Quinn et al. and an existing implementation are examined to determine common features inherent in these approaches. These features are posited as a typical form and their impact on organisational commitment and hence on individual and organisational performance is examined.