To read this content please select one of the options below:

The impact of social technologies on knowledge management processes: The moderator effect of e-literacy

Ali Akbar Haddadi Harandi (Department of IT Management, Faculty of Management, South Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran)
Mona Bokharaei Nia (Department of IT Management, Faculty of Management, South Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran)
Changiz Valmohammadi (Department of IT Management, Faculty of Management, South Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran and Taylor’s Business School, Faculty of Business and Law, Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus, Subang Jaya, Malaysia)

Kybernetes

ISSN: 0368-492X

Article publication date: 27 November 2018

Issue publication date: 23 September 2019

535

Abstract

Purpose

The importance of e-literacy of staff in the digital life is fundamentally very crucial, to such an extent that it is considered as one of the primary conditions for successful utilization of knowledge management processes using social technologies within organizations. This study aims to explain and test a novel conceptual model to show the impact of applying social technologies on knowledge management (KM) processes in the context of Iranian organizations, considering the moderator role of e-literacy of employees.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on an in-depth study of the relevant literature, a questionnaire was designed. The sound questionnaires obtained from our sample size was 207 and respondents were experts in the field of information technology (IT) within the Central Office of Insurance companies in Tehran. The collected data were analyzed using structural equation modeling and path analysis.

Findings

The results indicate that the use of social technologies with the factor loading of 0.57 has the highest impact on knowledge exchange and 0.61 on knowledge utilization. In addition, the results indicate that e-literacy with the factor loadings of 0.69 and 0.74 has the highest impact on knowledge exchange and knowledge utilization, respectively. In addition, the impact of social technologies with the factor loading of 0.82 has the highest impact on e-literacy.

Research limitations/implications

One of the limitations of this study was the generalizability of the findings, which may be limited, as it is focused on one developing country. Also, the lack of full implementation of KM and the use of social technologies in the insurance industry may affect the obtained results.

Originality/value

To the best knowledge of the authors, this study is among the first of its kind which examines the impact of social technologies usage on the KM processes considering an important variable, i.e. e-literacy of employees.

Keywords

Citation

Haddadi Harandi, A.A., Bokharaei Nia, M. and Valmohammadi, C. (2019), "The impact of social technologies on knowledge management processes: The moderator effect of e-literacy", Kybernetes, Vol. 48 No. 8, pp. 1731-1756. https://doi.org/10.1108/K-11-2017-0413

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

Related articles