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Knowledge Management in Developing Economies: A Critical Review

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The Palgrave Handbook of Knowledge Management

Abstract

The notion of knowledge management (KM) is generally conceptualized and used in research originating from developed countries in the West. Managers in developing economies face a different sociocultural and economic complex when trying to implement KM systems and there is a need for insight into the way KM is understood and practiced in these economies. With the migration of manufacturing and service industries to developing economies, developing countries, such as China and India, are increasingly relevant and significant due to the size of their markets and human resources. Thus, there is a need to critically investigate how the cultural, economic, and social contexts in these economies interact with organizations and their KM systems. This chapter provides a systematic review of KM literature in the developing economy context. The review shows that only a few studies provide a contextually embedded discussion on KM in developing countries. We further analyzed the studies that provide contextual analysis and extracted three themes: trust, hierarchy, and power. Based on our findings, we have presented a categorization of research on KM in developing countries along with recommendations for future research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Suleman Dawood School of Business, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan

    Mariam Mohsin & Jawad Syed

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  1. Mariam Mohsin
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  2. Jawad Syed
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Suleman Dawood School of Business, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan

    Jawad Syed

  2. School of Management and Enterprise, Faculty of Business, Education, Law and the Arts, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia

    Peter A. Murray

  3. School of Business and Economics, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire, United Kingdom

    Donald Hislop

  4. Muscat University, St Helens, Merseyside, United Kingdom

    Yusra Mouzughi

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Mohsin, M., Syed, J. (2018). Knowledge Management in Developing Economies: A Critical Review. In: Syed, J., Murray, P., Hislop, D., Mouzughi, Y. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Knowledge Management. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71434-9_24

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