Assessing The Feasibility Of Emerging Technologies As A Research Knowledge Management Tool In Academia: A Case Study In A South African Context

Abstract

This study considers the challenge of retaining the research knowledge of aging, experienced professoriate at Universities of Technology (UoTs), institutions with a nascent tradition of scholarly research, this study proposes a technology-supported framework for knowledge generation, retention and transfer for the Central University of Technology (CUT) Free State. CUT has been continually confronted with the risk of losing the research knowledge of highly experienced aging professors upon retirement, transfer or resignations. Given the absence of strong mechanisms and interventions for preserving tacit knowledge upon the departure of such senior academics, the need to develop practical frameworks for addressing such attrition at higher education institutions (HEIs) especially UoTs cannot be over-emphasised. The main objective of this study, therefore, was to develop an emerging technology (ET)-mediated knowledge management approach for the management (i.e. generation, transfer and retention) of research knowledge at CUT. The study drew on the Interpretive Paradigm, Nonaka and Takeuchi’s Theory of Organisational Knowledge Creation, an Action Research Approach, and detailed qualitative data triangulation involving in-depth semi-structured interviews, focus groups, document review and the author’s reflections to establish the extent to which an emerging technology, SharePoint, would serve as a platform for generating, transferring and retaining research knowledge among experienced and emerging academics at CUT. The target population for this study was academics and research staff in the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology who are already using SharePoint in informal ways. The collected data was then employed in developing a technology-enhanced knowledge management model through which the knowledge of the well-seasoned researchers and academics can be transferred to the inexperienced junior staff to prevent knowledge loss in higher education institutions. The major findings of the study were the underutilisation of SharePoint by most academics, the overreliance on the local (L) drive for sharing academic meeting and policy information, the heavy workload of junior staff and senior academics’ burgeoning administrative responsibilities that limited their involvement on knowledge management practices. Therefore, the development of an effective knowledge management framework was hampered by the following factors: academic’s culture of working in silos, the existence of knowledge hoarding, the reluctance to share knowledge across racial and cultural divides and the lack of resource persons to facilitate the sustained use of emerging technologies in support of knowledge management. However, there was also evidence to demonstrate that tacit knowledge can be assimilated from a comprehensive examination of the knowledge production interactions between senior academics and novices enabled by low threshold technology and collaborative sharing of content. Based on these findings the study recommends a clear institutionalisation of policy on knowledge management and guidelines on how learning designers can tap into exemplars of effective use of SharePoint and other technologies and then use them for the wider roll-out of such technologies across campus. This study’s insights are relevant to Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) struggling to create a sustainable culture of scholarly research and grow a new generation of competent researchers amid the attrition of senior academics and the prevalence of systemic blockages in knowledge transfer processes.