Developing knowledge protective capacity through retention practices in South African state-owned companies

South African Journal of Information Management

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Developing knowledge protective capacity through retention practices in South African state-owned companies
 
Creator Phaladi, Malefetjane P.
 
Subject knowledge management; human resource management; organisational behaviour knowledge protective capacity; human resource retention practices; knowledge loss; knowledge retention; knowledge transfer; state-owned enterprises; South Africa.
Description Background: Extant knowledge management (KM) literature has established the importance of human resource management (HRM) practices and their relationship in support of the effective management of organisational tacit knowledge, albeit at a theoretical level. This study attempts to address this research gap by empirically exploring and focusing on specific HRM retention practices in support of knowledge transfer and retention efforts in the context of South African state-owned companies (SOCs).Objective: The purpose of this study is to explore the extent to which HRM retention practices help to develop knowledge protection capacities in ensuring effective mitigation of enterprise tacit knowledge loss in South African SOCs.Method: This study used an exploratory sequential mixed methods research (MMR) design to investigate knowledge retention practices in South African SOCs. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with 20 human resource managers and a survey with 585 randomly selected respondents, achieving a 25% response rate.Results: South African SOCs lack knowledge-driven retention strategies, which could reduce labour turnover and knowledge loss risks. These issues include success management, incentive schemes, job rotation, post-retirement knowledge contracting, counter-offers and job shadowing. If unaddressed, these issues could threaten organisational performance and economic sustainability.Conclusion: Insofar as human resource retention practices are concerned, this study concludes that they are not knowledge-driven, thus not helping SOCs in building the necessary capacities and capabilities for the protection of enterprise-specific knowledge assets.Contribution: This study sought to close a gap in research and practice linking human resource retention and knowledge protective strategies to address knowledge loss risks in SOCs.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor Tshwane University of Technology, Research and Innovation Portfolio University of South Africa
Date 2023-12-22
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Mixed Methods Research; Exploratory Sequential Design; Interview; Document Analysis; Survey Questionnaire
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/sajim.v25i1.1727
 
Source South African Journal of Information Management; Vol 25, No 1 (2023); 10 pages 1560-683X 2078-1865
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://sajim.co.za/index.php/sajim/article/view/1727/2547 https://sajim.co.za/index.php/sajim/article/view/1727/2548 https://sajim.co.za/index.php/sajim/article/view/1727/2549 https://sajim.co.za/index.php/sajim/article/view/1727/2550
 
Coverage South Africa n/a human resource managers; knowledge management practitioners and employees in the SOEs
Rights Copyright (c) 2023 Malefetjane P. Phaladi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
ADVERTISEMENT