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Knowledge management, organizational commitment and knowledge-worker performance: The neglected role of knowledge management in the public sector

Shahid Razzaq (The Department of Management Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Attock Campus, Attock, Pakistan)
Muhammad Shujahat (KM & EL Lab, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong)
Saddam Hussain (The Department of Management Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Attock Campus, Attock, Pakistan)
Faisal Nawaz (The Department of Management Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Attock Campus, Attock, Pakistan)
Minhong Wang (KM & EL Lab, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong)
Murad Ali (Department of Human Resource Management, Faculty of Economics and Administration, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia)
Shehnaz Tehseen (Department of Management, Sunway University Business School, Sunway University, Bandar Sunway, Malaysia)

Business Process Management Journal

ISSN: 1463-7154

Article publication date: 12 October 2018

Issue publication date: 19 August 2019

6069

Abstract

Purpose

Knowledge management in the public sector is relatively an ignored avenue of research and practice that has recently been given attention. Knowledge management initiatives in the public sector are now not limited to the developed countries anymore. The public sectors of various developing countries including Pakistan have developed knowledge management functions to address the problems of low organizational commitment (higher turnover rates) and knowledge-workers’ performance. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to examine the mediation role of organizational commitment in the relationship between knowledge management practices and knowledge-worker performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were gathered from 341 knowledge workers of the public sector health department of Punjab Province, Pakistan, where knowledge management unit initiative has been taken. It was then analyzed using the structural equation modeling.

Findings

Organizational commitment partially mediates the relationship between knowledge management practices and knowledge-work performance.

Practical implications

The public sector policy makers are strongly advised to implement knowledge management units and practices in order to enhance knowledge-work performance as well as organizational commitment.

Originality/value

First, the model on the mediating role of organizational commitment has never been examined before. Second, the data collection from the public Health Department of Pakistan, a developing country, is relatively rare because the public sector knowledge management studies have mostly been conducted in developed countries. Finally, this study extends the literature on knowledge management in the public sector that is the developing theme in knowledge management discipline while adding knowledge management as a toolkit to enhance knowledge-workers’, organizational commitment and knowledge-work performance.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the developmental feedback from Editor-in-Chief Professor Majed Al-Mashari at College of Computer & Information Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the two anonymous reviewers. Additionally, the second author Muhammad Shujahat, would like to acknowledge and extend the gratitude to Professor Aino Kianto at School of Business and Management, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Lappeenranta, Finland, for mentoring in academic research writing for another project that was indeed very helpful in the conduct of this research study.

Citation

Razzaq, S., Shujahat, M., Hussain, S., Nawaz, F., Wang, M., Ali, M. and Tehseen, S. (2019), "Knowledge management, organizational commitment and knowledge-worker performance: The neglected role of knowledge management in the public sector", Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 25 No. 5, pp. 923-947. https://doi.org/10.1108/BPMJ-03-2018-0079

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

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