Leadership Behavior & its influence on Knowledge Management : A case study of a maritime crewing SME

Sammanfattning: Leadership Behavior and Knowledge Management are two very important themes in Business Administration. The purpose of this study is to examine how Leadership Behavior influences Knowledge Management practices in business organizations. This paper is based on existing theories of these two themes and uses a case study to further investigate the correlation between them. Transformational and transactional elements of Leadership Behavior helped to define the relevant style of the investigated case, and to explore the leader ́s influence on Knowledge Management practices, existing theoretical models were utilized for the qualitative research of this study. Data is collected from directing managers and the founder of a case study company in the maritime crewing sector. The research was conducted with a qualitative approach. For the data collection 13 interviews from the case company were conducted and the researchers used knowledge resources from previous case studies and theoretical frameworks relevant to the research question. The data was analyzed by deductive reasoning in the existing knowledge with an interpretive approach in order to conclude from the empirical investigation in conjunction with current academic literature studies.  Results from the research showed that the leadership model as indicated in the empirical data from the case study, is Paternalistic. The concluded model influences Knowledge Management practices by affecting the level of employee’s motivation to engage in the organizational mission and willing to acquire productive knowledge. The findings of this research suggest opportunities for future potential studies in keyword terms about giving learning incentives to employees, Knowledge Management practices related to technological efficiencies and industry-related influential factors towards Leadership Behavior and Style.