Assessing the Drivers of Virtual Knowledge Management Impact in European Firms' Performance: an Exploratory Analysis

Abstract

e‑Business is a phenomenon that has progressed over the past decades at record speed, with considerable promise and hype. It has been embraced with varying degrees of enthusiasm and impact by both large and SME firms. Parallel with its development, E‑Business has attracted research interests, seen in a plethora of new modules, programmes, models and tools. Knowledge Management (KM) is one tool that has seemed to gain a more relevant role, especially as managing knowledge becomes increasingly important to all companies. Appropriate KM practices within organisations can be seen as one of the prerequisites of enhancement of continuous performance improvement in the interne‑based context. Thus, our aim is to develop a conceptual framework related to KM practices in a virtual context and to identify the nature of the relationship existing in those knowledge‑driven elements and performance achievements. This paper aims to bridge the gap between the KM and e‑business performance‑related literatures from the viewpoint of European firms by establishing a model tested in European companies. For this purpose, we used a structural equation modelling analysis. The results show that KM has a positive impact on the maximization of e‑business performance and that some elements individually have a positive influence on e‑business performance. As limitations of the study, we consider the need for more research into this field and the inclusion of news elements such as technological readiness and management support to KM initiatives. The present study advances knowledge on the nature of the relative importance of different components of Internet‑based KM as drivers of e‑business performance and reinforce its importance as an integrated e‑business tool.