The impact of digital technologies on knowledge networks in two engineering organisations

Abstract

The management and exploitation of knowledge can contribute to the competitive advantage of an organisation and hence can be a driver of its value. This paper examines knowledge management practices within two engineering organisations with an emphasis on barriers to its effectiveness and the influence of current and anticipated deployment of digital technologies. Two methods were used to gather research data across both organisations by combining a series of semi-structured interviews with a quantitative social network analysis. Examination of the acquired data provided insights into the relationship between the knowledge management culture in both organisations and their adoption of digital tools. Hudson’s evolutionary model of safety culture has been modified to describe the culture of knowledge management in an organisation and the acquired data used to locate the two organisations on their knowledge management journey. It is proposed that social networks could be used as an indicator of the stage of evolution of knowledge management in engineering organisations more generally with low network densities and dispersed networks representing higher stages of evolution.