The Role of Fit in Knowledge Management Systems: Tentative Propositions of the KMS Design

The practice of knowledge management (KM) has become pervasive and ubiquitous across business environments, driven by the realization that organizational know-how represents a strategic asset that can be leveraged for competitive advantage. To date, research has provided little guidance as to when knowledge management systems (KMS) will be successful in enabling organizations to leverage knowledge. In this paper, several ideas on the fit between functionalities of KMS and knowledge needs of employees, which are considered through contingency factors of task domain, type of knowledge and volatility of knowledge, are presented. Drawing on several vignettes gathered from a number of large-scale research projects and based on existing understanding of KMS design (from the literature), the goals of this paper are: (1) to discuss the concept of fit as a mechanism for understanding the deployment of technology for KM, and (2) to propose theoretical background for design of information systems (IS) that successfully support KM practices. Findings extend the task-technology fit concept to KM environment, and provide KM field with an outline of operationalizable advice to IS designers, explicitly dealing with contingent factors that influence the choice of functionalities needed by KMS in particular organizational setting.