Cultural Determinants of Learning Effectiveness from
Knowledge Management Systems: A Multinational
Investigation
Christopher P. Furner, Robert M. Mason, Nikhil Mehta,
Timothy P. Munyon, and Robert Zinko
Knowledge is a vital component of organizational success embedded within the human resources of a firm (Grant, 1996). Knowledge is lost by organizations when it is not used or when knowledgeable individuals turnover. Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) are designed to help organizations capture, store, distill, and distribute knowledge embedded within their employees. The effectiveness of KMS is dependent on individual learning and individual-specific learning preferences. Furthermore, as the world becomes more globalized and the job candidate pool from which organizations hire becomes more culturally diverse, the extent to which western models of organizational behavior hold becomes less clear. Using a multi-national survey, this study aims to determine to what extent learning preferences are dependent on culture. If learning preferences are dependent on culture, KMS designs that ignore culture may result in incomplete or ineffective knowledge transfer and learning outcomes. Our findings contribute to the KMS literature by suggesting that KMS design should be conducted with the goal of effectively facilitating learning across cultures. Specific KMS design recommendations include incorporating group activities and providing more flexibility, depending on the culturally derived learning preferences of specific users.
