The Evolution of Knowledge Management: Current and Future Application in China

Although many researchers and practitioners have discussed different aspects of knowledge and knowledge management (KM), there have been only a handful of papers that grapple these complex issues from a broad perspective. The main purpose of this study is to afford an integrative framework for a better understanding of KM through an extensive review of literature, and to investigate current and future knowledge practices and research by applying the integrated framework to the context of China. Although current application of KM in China is still in primitive stage, a great number of businesses are in strong demand for a theoretical position and practical guidelines of KM. Therefore, the potential future issues of KM and the integrative theoretical perspective presented in this study may provide a useful starting point for the direction and focus of future KM research and practices, especially in China.