KVAM: model for measuring knowledge management performance of engineering community of practice

The research presents the development of the knowledge value-adding model (KVAM) for quantitative performance measurement of the community of practice (CoP) of the knowledge management system (KMS) in an A/E consulting firm. The proposed KVAM combines several existing KM theories including knowledge creation spiral, knowledge chain model, and knowledge value added theory to form a process-level model for measuring the performance of a generic community of practice (CoP). Case study results show that the proposed KVAM provides KM managers with a useful tool not only to monitor the performance of a CoP and its members but also to plan an effective strategy for performance improvement. Unlike the traditional organizational-level approaches, the proposed KVAM was concluded to better reflect the actual values solely generated by the KMS rather than other management factors.