Investigating the extent to which non-technological aspects of knowledge management are integrated into a financial service knowledge management system

Fierce competition, demanding shareholders, legislation and increasing cost force financial institutions to develop innovative strategies and effective knowledge management systems (KMS) to improve services. While technological and human capabilities are all necessary for an effective KMS, much focus has been put on the technological than non-technological aspects of Knowledge Management (KM). Technology positively enhances knowledge development but can also make skills obsolete. This study investigates the extent to which non-technological aspects of KM have been integrated in a KMS of a financial service organization and the impact of this integration on the KMS effectiveness. 90 employees participated in a case study and qualitative and quantitative data analysis was conducted. The results show that employee skills were not leveraged to guide customers, service offerings were below standards, operations were inflexible and idea generation and diffusion were limited. Correlation and regression tests confirmed that non-technological factors influence the KMS effectiveness.