An analysis of the perceived value of using knowledge management systems in supporting decision making processes

This paper offers an exploratory study which presents some initial insight to the little-researched phenomenon of how Knowledge Management Systems (KMSs) are utilised in organisations and, in particular, analyses the perceived value of using KMSs in supporting Decision Making (DM) processes in organisations. The paper summarises a preliminary study for a doctoral research project. A synthesis of ideas from a literature review suggested a new conceptual framework with several critical factors that organisations should take into account to analyse the perceived value of using KMSs in supporting DM processes. The proposed framework, USUQ, focuses on the Usage, user Satisfaction, Usefulness of using KMSs and the Quality of DM processes. In order to validate the proposed framework, a questionnaire survey was designed and conducted with managers and decision makers from different sectors and at different levels of organisations which use KMSs tools to support DM processes. Overall, this study analyses the perceived value of using KMSs in supporting DM processes through using the USUQ framework. The analysis and findings have shown that there are different KMSs tools used in supporting DM processes at different levels. The most used tool is a search engine and the least used tool is the knowledge harvesting tool. Moreover, the study indicates that KMSs users are satisfied in relation to ease of use, accessibility and friendliness of using KMSs. Furthermore, most of participants perceive several different benefits of using KMSs in supporting DM processes. It indicates also that KMSs have different levels of significance in each step of the DM process, and that they are used to support operational decisions more than strategic and tactical decisions. Moreover, the study highlights that KMSs improve and create high quality decisions, and can support unstructured and semi-structured decisions as well. To conclude, this study provides a fresh perspective on the issue of using KMSs in supporting DM processes in organisations. The study supports, the USUQ conceptual framework but more data is needed to fully validate the framework. This study offers insights in analysing the usage of KMSs in supporting DM processes in organisations.