A PRINCIPAL COMPONENT ANALYSIS OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SUCCESS FACTORS IN CONSTRUCTION FIRMS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Construction firms are knowledge-intensive organisations as employees use knowledge in their day to day activities; however, managing this knowledge is essential for improved service delivery. Knowledge Management (KM) has been affirmed to be of great benefit and improve the performance of organisations and particularly quantity surveying firms in Nigeria so, therefore, the need to assess the factors critical to the implementation of KM. Quantitative data was collected through the use of questionnaire from eighty-six quantity surveyors from quantity surveying firms in the southwestern geopolitical zone of Nigeria which comprises of six states using census sampling. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data collected, and the result discussed. Mean Item Score was used to rank the factors while data reduction technique was used to ascertain the factors critical to the implementation of KM. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy and Bartlett’s test of sphericity were conducted before the data were subjected to principal component analysis and the results indicated that the data set is suitable for factor analysis. Five constructs of CSF, namely; Organisation and Leadership, Resources, Management involvement, Information technology and culture were developed from the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) with a significant value ranging from 0.524 - 0.776. The reliability of each construct was tested using Cronbach Alpha coefficient, and the values arrived at are; 0.87, 0.885, 0.882, 0.903 and 0.749 respectively. The study revealed that the significance of KM critical success factors is well acknowledged by quantity surveyors in quantity surveying firms and the findings contributed to knowledge by introducing five factors critical to the success of KM. The study recommends that these factors should be given adequate attention for successful KM implementation in quantity surveying firms in Nigeria.