Knowledge Management (KM) in the Maltese pharmaceutical sector : linking KM enablers, KM processes and organisational effectiveness

Abstract

In today’s knowledge economy, knowledge is recognised as the most valuable resource for an organisation, helping it sustain its competitive advantage. This is more so in knowledge intensive sectors such as the Maltese Pharmaceutical Sector where knowledge related activities are the core activities that add value to the operations of these organisations. Understanding the successes and failures of Knowledge Management (KM) initiatives has been difficult since previous attempts at investigating the relationship between KM enablers, KM processes and organisational effectiveness have been fragmented mainly due to the fact that such relationships have either been examined in isolation or studies have been limited to only a few KM enablers, leaving other important ones out. In order to address this gap in the KM literature, this study adopted a concurrent (convergent parallel) mixed methods research design (QUAN + QUAL) to investigate the relationship between KM enablers, KM processes and organisational effectiveness. An integrative model encompassing a more complete array of KM enablers namely trust, collaboration, learning, centralisation, formalisation, KM strategy, intrinsic rewards, T-shaped skills, IT support and transformational leadership; four KM processes (knowledge creation, knowledge organisation, knowledge application and knowledge protection); and organisational effectiveness was investigated through the quantitative study which drew from a web-based questionnaire that was split into three parts separated by a two-week gap and distributed to 230 organisations in the Maltese Pharmaceutical Sector. The 205 responses (a response rate of 89.13%) obtained formed the basis of the empirical testing using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). To complement the findings of the quantitative study and to explore further the perceptions and views of practitioners in the Maltese Pharmaceutical Sector about KM, a qualitative study was carried out using structured interviews. 20 participants were interviewed with the transcribed interview data analysed using a template analysis technique. The integrative model developed through the quantitative study showed that KM enablers (excluding trust, collaboration & T-shaped skills) produced direct effects on KM processes. IT support and transformational leadership emerged as strong antecedents of the KM processes. Only knowledge creation and knowledge protection had a direct effect on organisational effectiveness and mediated the relationship between some KM enablers and organisational effectiveness. Besides complementing the findings of the quantitative study, the qualitative study concluded that KM is a fairly new concept for the Maltese Pharmaceutical Sector and it is still at its infancy stage. Even though there is a lack of a formal KM strategy, both codification strategies and personalisation strategies (essential elements of a KM strategy) exist and are undertaken. Whilst knowledge protection is high on the agenda of the participants, more effort must be directed towards the organisation and application of essential organisational knowledge. Finally, metrics intended to measure effects of initiatives geared at improving organisational effectiveness are lacking. It is also hoped that this research can stimulate future studies were data are collected and analysed at different points in time thus identifying any patterns in variable relationships over time and any possible feedback loop mechanisms. Applying this research to different knowledge intensive sectors such as the financial sector can also be an interesting avenue for future research.