Understanding the effect of knowledge management strategies on knowledge management performance: A contingency perspective

• A contingency model is proposed to investigate the effects of four KM strategies on KM performance.
• The effectiveness of KM strategies depends on external and internal contextual conditions.
• KM strategies have a significant association with KM performance in their hypothesized contexts.
• This study offers contingent guidance to managers on how to best use different KM strategies in different organizational contexts.
• The contingent KM strategies provide organizations with a benchmark against which they can compare their own KM strategies.

The universalistic perspective research on employing a unidimensional knowledge management (KM) strategy has yielded conflicting findings and recommendations in different contexts. This study proposes a contingency model for investigating the effects of KM strategies on KM performance to resolve these contradictions. Drawing on the knowledge-based view (KBV) of the firm, which identifies knowledge type and origin as two key KM dimensions, this study first defines four KM strategies: external codification, internal codification, external personalization, and internal personalization. A multiple contingency model of KM strategy is then developed based on a technology–organization–environment framework. This study proposes that the effectiveness of each KM strategy depends on both external and internal contextual conditions, namely, environmental knowledge intensity and organizational information systems (IS) maturity. To test and validate the contingency model, we analyze data from 141 firms to explain the effects of KM strategies on KM performance. Our results reveal three KM strategies, not including the internal personalization strategy, which have a significant association with KM performance in their hypothesized contexts. This study expands KM strategy research by theoretically developing an advanced contingency model aligned with external and internal contexts and by providing valuable practical suggestions to managers for selecting a KM strategy based on multiple contingencies related to the external and internal conditions of a firm.