Knowledge Management Strategy and Service Firm Performance: A Comparison of Firms Competing on Low-Cost versus High-Quality

This study contributes to the knowledge management literature by comparing the effects of four knowledge strategy configurations on the performance of service firms competing on low-cost versus high-quality. Data was collected from 107 hospitality establishments operating in South Africa. Firms competing on low-cost and high-quality were classified into one of four groups based on their approach to knowledge management and were then compared on two dimensions of service firm performance. Results suggest that information (IT) based approaches to knowledge management are associated with high performance amongst hospitality services firms competing on low-cost whilst human capital based approaches are associated with high performance amongst firms competing on quality. Implications for knowledge management are discussed.