Beyond Knowledge Management - Introducing a framework for Learning Management Systems

In the knowledge economy, a firm’s intellectual capital represents the only sustainable source of competitive advantage. Intellectual capital manifests itself, predominantly, in the individual and collective competencies of employees in organizations. Hence, the ability to learn and to manage learning becomes critical to the success of organizations. Firm’s adopting knowledge management initiatives seek to facilitate the sharing and integration of knowledge. This approach has had limited success, primarily because of its focus on ‘knowledge as a resource’ rather than on ‘learning as a people process’. A strategic ‘people-oriented’ approach to the management of learning is now emerging in many organizations and a new breed of information system (IS), the ‘Learning Management System’ (LMS), is being used to manage organizational learning. As with previous IS innovations, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, industry practitioners and IT vendors, are addressing the ‘Learning Management’ challenge; consequently, there is a paucity of empirical research on LMS in the IS field. It is well-accepted that with little researched or understood phenomena, a research framework is required to identify fundamental constructs and variables so that such phenomena can be rigorously studied. Based on an exhaustive analysis of previous research and an extensive case study of an LMS implementation, this paper proposes a conceptual model and framework that delineates a role for LMS with respect to theories that deal with knowledge and learning management and IS which are argued to support learning and knowledge management in organizations. In so doing, this study highlights the roles that LMS can play in the support and management of learning within knowledge-intensive business enterprises.