English abstract
The purpose of this study was to measure the readiness of the State Audit institution (SAI) for KM process implementation. It aimed to investigate the status of KM enablers, employees' acceptance of knowledge management (KM), the level of employees' intention to be involved in the KM process, and to examine the relationships between employees' (perceptions on the availability of KM enablers, and acceptance of KM) and their intention to be involved in the KM process. Additionally, the study sought to explore the impact of the following variables: Gender, nature of work, work experience, and qualification on these issues.
A mixed methods approach was adopted to collect quantitative and qualitative data by means of questionnaire and focus group discussions respectively. Questionnaires were filled in by (540) employees, while (24) employees participated in the six focus group discussions. A pilot study was conducted to test the validity and the reliability of the questionnaire. Validity testing was based on face validity, factor analysis, concurrent validity, and internal validity, whereas test-retest reliability and Cronbach's alpha were used to test reliability. The results indicated that the psychometric properties of the questionnaire were promising.
The quantitative data were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, correlation analysis, independent sample t-test, one-way ANOVA, while thematic analysis was conducted to draw out qualitative data about SAI employees' attitudes and perspectives regarding readiness for KM process implementation. The results revealed that SAI has a high level of readiness for KM process implementation. To illustrate, employees perceived that KM enablers relating to organization culture, organization structure, and IT infrastructure were highly available in the SAI. Furthermore, employees tended to highly accept KM and perceive that their involvement in the KM process would be easy and it would improve their performance. Moreover, employees in the SAI expressed their intention to be involved in the various KM processes, namely, socialization, externalization, combination, and internalization. The results also identified positive significant relationships between the different elements of employees' intention to be involved in KM process and KM enablers as well as employees' performance and effort expectancy of KM. Likewise, the results identified significant differences in employees' perceptions on the availability of KM enablers related to gender, nature of work, work experience, and qualification, whereas no significant differences regarding any of the demographic factors were observed in employees' acceptance of KM. Furthermore, the results indicated that males' intention to be involved in socialization, externalization, and combination was greater than that of females. Although significant differences relating to nature of work were observed in employees' intention to be involved in KM processes, there were none relating to work experience or qualification. Finally, the study provided some recommendations to enhance the KM environment in Omani government organizations, in general, and in SAI, in particular. Key words: KM, Readiness, Enablers, Employees, Acceptance, Intention, Involvement, State Audit Institution, Government organizations, Oman, Mixed methods study.
