Measuring knowledge management processes in auditing and consultancy firms

Abstract

The doctoral dissertation examines knowledge management processes and their effect on sustainable organisational performance, also the impact of human (trust, interaction and self-efficacy), organisational (rewards, organisational culture, teamwork and organisational structure) and technological factors (information technology and social networks) on the knowledge management cycle including five processes (acquisition, creation, storage, sharing and application), focusing on the knowledge-intensive field of auditing and consultancy, which lacks research of knowledge management processes in the developing economies of the Mid-East region (Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan). The dissertation aims to measure knowledge management processes in auditing and consultancy firms by creating a model allowing for a complex assessment of different human, organisational, and technological factors affecting the processes and forming decisions to enhance the process implementation in auditing and consultancy firms to improve sustainable organisational performance. Scientific literature analysis, expert evaluation, and structural equation modelling (SEM) techniques were used to test the hypothesised research model and analyse the relationship between the variables. The empirical study results proved the significant and positive effects of knowledge management processes on sustainable organisational performance. It determined significant positive effects of trust, interaction, self-efficacy, rewards, organisational culture, teamwork, organisational structure, information technology, and social networks on the knowledge management processes cycle. Some exceptions were related to the effects of interaction on knowledge sharing, rewards on knowledge application, organisational culture on knowledge acquisition, information technology on knowledge acquisition, and social networks on knowledge application. Based on the results, the model for measuring knowledge management processes was created for auditing and consultancy firms. Similar organisations operating in the knowledge-intensive sector would also benefit from considering the positive association between knowledge management processes and sustainable organisational performance and the demonstrated positive effects of specific factors on the knowledge management cycle. These practical implications are relevant to a wider culture that guides sustainable organisational performance to the members and stakeholders of organisations, which, in turn, benefits society and contributes to the improvement of developing economies.