Assessment of Knowledge Management’s Growth in South Africa

This article revisits a debate surrounding Knowledge Management (KM) to report on an empirical study conducted in 86 South African based organizations, specifically regarding growth in KM maturity over a five year period. The findings indicate that KM is fairly well institutionalized in South African industry, with most organizations indicating that significant growth occurred in KM over the past five years. Analysis of the growth in KM maturity, as it relates to different organizational sizes, reveals that there are statistical differences between the score reported by Small, Medium, Large and Extra-Large organizations. Similarly, scores reported by Senior, Middle and Operational personnel differ primarily between the scores decided upon by Operational personnel and Senior managers. Viewed holistically, findings suggest that there could be a “break-even point” between resources available and KM growth with Extra-Large organizations given their advantage in KM growth. Findings also indicated that growth in KM differs between industry groupings, with Construction, Building Materials and Mining companies achieving high growth (+/- 70%), Consumer Goods and Utilities (+/- 60%), Banks and Insurance, Automotive and Transport, Government and ICT companies, moderate growth (+/- 50%), and Educational institutions, low growth (+/- 40%).