The adoption of Knowledge Management Systems in Mexico : A Quantitative Study

Sammanfattning:

Knowledge is a very important asset for organizations; it is one of the best sources of competitive advantage. Knowledge Management is used to effectively capture and apply knowledge in organizations. This task is usually carried out with the help of knowledge management systems, which serve for the creation, transfer, application and storage/retrieval of knowledge.

Currently in Mexico the level of KM in organizations is not at the level that it could be. It seems that organizations are having a hard time applying the practices and level of KM that organizations in first world countries have achieved.

The purpose of this study is to understand what factors drive employees in Mexico to adopt knowledge management systems. With these results organizations will know what factors they should pay close attention to, and it will shed light into what actions or interventions they should take in order to increase the adoption level of KMS.

In order to do this, a research framework was designed based on a review of theoretical models used to study the adoption of technology, as well as previous KM adoption studies. And by applying a survey questionnaire, which received a total of 953 valid responses, through which several hypotheses were tested, it was found that subjective norm and efficiency gains have a significant positive influence over perceived usefulness, which in turn has a significant positive influence on the intention to use and attitude towards use of KMS. Subjective norm also influences image, which itself also influences perceived usefulness. It was also found that perceived ease of use has a positive influence on attitude towards use, perceived usefulness and attitude towards use. Finally voluntariness influences attitude towards use which in turn influences intention towards use, which is the primary factor that we wish to influence for usage behavior.

The most important factors that organizations in Mexico, particularly in Monterrey, should pay attention to when seeking to increase the level of adoption of KMS are the following, in order of relevance: perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, subjective norm, efficiency gains, voluntariness and image.