Exploring Adoption Trends of Knowledge Management Systems in the Software Industry's SMEs: A Comprehensive Investigation of Enablers and Barriers

The essence of organizational knowledge resides in various aspects of an organization, including processes, products, culture, and systems. Managing this knowledge involves identifying, acquiring, developing, storing, sharing, and evaluating it. Effective knowledge management not only improves an organization's performance but also gives it a competitive advantage. Knowledge Management Systems (KMS), a subset of enterprise systems, help organize and leverage organizational knowledge. Particularly important for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), KMS adoption is crucial for their growth. This research focuses on understanding KMS adoption patterns among SMEs in the software industry, using the UTAUT2 framework. The study examines the impact of factors like Performance Expectancy, Effort Expectancy, Social Influence, and Price Value on users' intention to use KMS. It also explores how Facilitating Conditions and Behavioral Intention affect users' actual usage of KMS. The research follows a quantitative approach, involving an online survey of 383 respondents, with 280 responses analyzed using SPSS. The findings reveal the significant influence of Social Influence on users' behavioral intention to adopt KMS. Additionally, Performance Expectancy and Price Value strongly affect intention, while Effort Expectancy has a positive but weaker impact. Facilitating Conditions and Behavioral Intention are identified as key factors impacting users' KMS usage behavior.