Knowledge management in the professions: the case of IT support in law firms

Knowledge management is an increasingly important source of competitive advantage for organizations. Knowledge embedded in the organization's business processes and the employee's skills provides the firm with unique capabilities to deliver customers with a product or service. Law firms represent an industry which seems very well suited for knowledge management investigation. Law firms are knowledge intensive, and the use of advanced technology may transform these organizations in the future. To examine knowledge management in Norwegian law firms, a study that involved two phases of data collection and analysis was designed. The first phase was a field study of the largest law firm in Norway. The semi-structured interviews conducted in the initial field study documented a strong belief in the potential benefits from knowledge management. The second phase was a survey of Norwegian law firms. Firm culture, film knowledge and use of information technology were identified as potential predictors of information technology support for knowledge management in law firms in Norway. The extent to which law firms in Norway use information technology to support knowledge management is significantly influenced by the extent firms generally use information technology.