Exploring Meta-Knowledge for Knowledge Management Systems: A Delphi Study

In recent years, information and communication technologies have been implemented in organizations to support the management of organizational knowledge and facilitate more effective knowledge sharing and problem solving. These technologies are collectively termed knowledge management systems (KMS). Unfortunately, the results of implementing KMS in organizations have not been as encouraging as expected. Specific problems facing organizations involve information overload, not using the systems effectively, or reinventing the wheel. Considering the fact that KMS were expected to solve exactly this latter problem, there is a need for studying why these systems fail and how we can improve them. In this paper, we focus on one aspect of the problem—namely, that organization members are not utilizing the knowledge stored in KMS. We propose that by incorporating some knowledge about the knowledge—termed meta-knowledge—we may improve the ability of organization members to locate knowledge and form attitudes about it. This, in turn, can result in better use of KMS and the application of organizational knowledge. To identify the specific metaknowledge required for the design of KMS, we conduct an exploratory Delphi study using a panel of 28 professionals from seven organizations. Our results show that the relevance of the knowledge, the experience of the knowledge source in the problem domain, and the credibility of the knowledge are the three most important elements of meta-knowledge.