Structuring the underlying relations among the knowledge management outcomes

Purpose – This study aims to identify a set of criteria to assess the effectiveness of knowledge management (KM) and to understand how these criteria inter‐relate with one another. From a research and practitioner's perspective, the study seeks to study how to expand these criteria to develop measures. Design/methodology/approach – The research methodology is based on literature review to determine a list of KM outcomes followed by the Delphi technique and survey questionnaire methods. The findings of the Delphi were used to supplement literature review findings. Both these results were used to develop the survey questionnaire. Survey‐based research, which used a questionnaire targeting knowledge management professionals as respondents, was aimed at establishing criteria for assessing knowledge management success. Findings – Using the criteria based on survey results, a computer‐assisted model is used to understand the shared underlying organizational framework in which KM operates and to identify how these criteria were linked. These relations should be explored and utilized to improve organizational performance. Research limitations/implications – Some of the limitations of this original research are limited number of experts participating in the study. Also, about 48 percent of the survey respondents represent for‐profit organizations and thus, research results may be biased towards for‐profit organizations. Future research should focus on translating the soft measures of knowledge management into detailed metrics. Originality/value – This is an academic research paper providing information on the underlying relations among KM outcomes.