Knowledge management and organizational culture in Chilean higher education institutions

Abstract

Knowledge management is a primary task in creating strategic value in institutions. In this context, the research aims to explore the influence of organizational culture on knowledge management. For this purpose, a questionnaire was applied to 29 leaders of intermediate management teams of four higher education institutions operating in different regions of Chile. Results show that innovative culture has a favorable impact on the specific phases of creating and storing knowledge. Competitive culture positively impacts knowledge creation; the bureaucratic culture has a favorable influence on applying knowledge, while community culture positively impacts creating, sharing, and applying knowledge. It is concluded that the relationship between these dimensions demands some fundamental care. First, it is necessary to differentiate between various types of culture; second, it is necessary to identify the different phases of the knowledge management processes; Third, it is necessary to establish concrete and specific relationships between the different types of cultures identified and the different phases of the defined knowledge management process. In this way, it will be possible to achieve results of strategic importance but safeguarding the specificities of each case to avoid generating ambiguous results.