Effects of Knowledge Management Capabilities on Organizational Performance in Iranian Export Companies

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between knowledge management capabilities and organizational performance. The knowledge management indices include knowledge process capabilities (knowledge acquisition, knowledge transfer, and knowledge protection and knowledge application) and knowledge infrastructure capabilities (organizational culture, organizational structure and technology),also organizational performance indices are organizational innovation and competiveness and financial/economical outcomes. The method of the study is structural equation modeling. Statistical population includes the entire senior managers of companies that are member of Khorasan Razavi Exporters Union. The sample size equals 148. Data collection tool is a standard questionnaire. SPSS and Lisrel software packages was used for analyzing research hypotheses. The result of confirmatory factor analysis determined that both research models are estimated significantly; also the result of path analysis determined that there is a direct and significant relationship between organizational culture, organizational structure, knowledge acquisition, knowledge application, knowledge protection and organizational performance. This study is the first study to this day to investigate the relationship between knowledge management and performance in Iran. So it is valuable for Iranian export companies to apply the results in terms of knowledge management and its effects on organizational performance.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n2p240