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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Influence of knowledge management practices on entrepreneurial and organizational performance: a mediated-moderation model.

• 1 School of Management, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China
• 2 Lyallpur Business School, Government College University Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan
• 3 Government College Women University, Faisalabad, Pakistan
• 4 Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi Khan, Pakistan

This study aims to identify the influence of knowledge management practices on the entrepreneurial and organizational performance with the mediating effect of dynamic capabilities and moderating role of opportunity recognition. Data were gathered from 486 entrepreneurs and applied a structural equation model to test the hypotheses. We found that knowledge management practices have a positive and significant influence on dynamic capabilities, as well as have a significant impact on entrepreneurial and organizational performance. Moreover, results indicated that dynamic capabilities partially mediate in the relationship between knowledge management practices on entrepreneurial and organizational performance. Furthermore, the relationship between knowledge management practices with entrepreneurial and organizational performance strengthening by opportunity recognition. Further, implications and limitations were discussed in the paper.

Introduction

With the rapid development in the knowledge-based economy, knowledge is considered an important measure to create prosperity and success ( Abubakar et al., 2019 ). Knowledge is the best driving force for entrepreneurial and organizational performance and its success ( Zaim et al., 2019 ). According to Wahda (2017) knowledge is the essential element of an organization for achieving a competitive advantage and maximum outcome. Knowledge management is defined as the explicit and effective management of important knowledge and its related practices of identification and its exploitation ( Ngah et al., 2016 ). Effective knowledge resources make up knowledge capability among organizations with the help of knowledge sharing, knowledge creation, innovativeness, and knowledge absorption. Therefore, when these resources merged it determine the knowledge management practices which ultimately turn into the relationship with organizational performance ( Alaarj et al., 2016 ).

Meanwhile, Butt et al. (2019) argue that organizations effort to look for means that support the workforce of knowledge resources to accomplish with the organization’s challenges in a competitive market as well as enhanced the entrepreneurial and organizational performance. Prior researchers indicate that knowledge management practices have progressively become an interest of topic in all areas of business studies and provide a significant role in the entrepreneurial and organizational success because of its growing awareness in the society ( Tang, 2017 ). Therefore, Antunes and Pinheiro (2020) suggested that knowledge management practices would help in the development of small and medium enterprises (SME’s) and their activities so they become more strong and effective to stay longer. Looking into previous literature researchers examined the role of knowledge management practices on organizational performance and found that knowledge management positively related to organizational and business performance ( Cerchione and Esposito, 2016 ; Serrat, 2017 ; Abuaddous et al., 2018 ).

Moreover, knowledge-based theory (KBT) explains that when knowledge management practices are effectively and efficiently managed, it develops unique capabilities that contribute to enhanced organizational performance by innovation ( Kane, 2017 ). Therefore, organizations with superior knowledge management practices are likely to achieve organizational performance ( Lopes et al., 2017 ; Shujahat et al., 2019 ). Akhavan et al. (2016) state that knowledge management practices such as knowledge sharing, knowledge acquisition, and knowledge application contributes to innovation which helps to improve organizational performance.

Furthermore, Byukusenge and Munene (2017) explain that knowledge sharing is an activity through knowledge skills, information is exchanged among people, peers, friends, or with in the organizations. Moreover, Centobelli et al. (2019) specified that innovative capacity refers to the innovation that involves the transformation of an effect into a reality that develops a new product and service that meets the needs and demands of the customers in the organizations. Researchers Santoro et al. (2018) explained that capacity as the organization’s ability to value, integrate, and apply new knowledge for improving the organizational performance. However, the relationship between knowledge sharing, innovative capacity, and absorptive capacity and organizational performance has been examined in the prior literature in the context of Western culture ( Lopes et al., 2017 ).

Furthermore, existing studies suggested that dynamic capability playing a vital role in achieving organizational and business firm performance through sensing, knowledge sharing, and reconfiguring ( Mardani et al., 2018 ; Antunes and Pinheiro, 2020 ). Prior researchers confirmed that dynamic capability had a direct and indirect positive influence on firm performance ( Lin and Wu, 2014 ). Numerous researchers found that dynamic capability had a positive effect on organizational performance ( Hung et al., 2010 ). Each of these studies examined the dynamic capability as a predictor variable to measure business and organizational performance and the relationship between knowledge management practices and its impact on organizational and entrepreneurial performance is under-explored. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the direct effect of knowledge management practices and the indirect effect of dynamic capability on entrepreneurial and organizational performance.

The gap of the study consists of four perspectives. Firstly, this study covers the existing gap in the literature of knowledge management practices such as knowledge sharing, innovative capacity, and absorptive capacity on organizational and entrepreneurial performance, because no empirical study is so far available on this relationship. Secondly, this study measures the performance of SME entrepreneurs using dynamic capability as a mediator because the significance of the SME sector is increasing gradually. Thirdly, most of the previous studies focused on the other sectors as well as examined the role of knowledge management practices on business performance ( Hung et al., 2010 ; Protogerou et al., 2012 ; Gholami et al., 2013 ) and taken innovation as a mediator variable in the relationship between organizational performance and other factors such as organizational learning, entrepreneurial orientation ( Hartono and Halim, 2014 ; Ferreira et al., 2020a ). Therefore, the relationship between knowledge management practices using dynamic capability as a mediator on entrepreneurial and organizational performance of SMEs is the motivation of this study. Fourthly, the direct relationship of dynamic capability on organizational and entrepreneurial performance is defined in the literature ( Ambrosini and Bowman, 2009 ). It is seen in the previous researches the relationship between opportunity recognition and dynamic capability on entrepreneurial and organizational performance is neglected by the researchers because opportunity recognition realizes an idea, capability that matches well with a particular target market to improve business performance. Thus, this study takes opportunity recognition as a moderating variable in the relationship between dynamic capabilities, entrepreneurial and organizational performance.

Literature Review and Hypotheses Development

Knowledge management.

Researchers believe that firms can stand out in one or more value-added disciplines; it can achieve unique competitive advantages and excellent organizational performance ( Torabi and El-Den, 2017 ). Knowledge management is likely to be a value-added method, more actively using knowledge and expertise to create value and improve organizational efficiency ( Rašula et al., 2012 ). Organizations with a higher level of knowledge management capabilities are more likely to increase the competitiveness of an entrepreneur by collecting, organizing, and transforming knowledge to implement ( Shujahat et al., 2019 ). Therefore, knowledge management practices play an important role not only in the firm’s performance but also lead to entrepreneurial performance. The process of knowledge management operation in an organization is complex and the entrepreneurs are managing, respectively. Thus, this study focuses on the key practices which the organizations acquire and use to improve their knowledge.

Relationship Between Knowledge Sharing Capacity, Dynamic Capability, Entrepreneurial and Organizational Performance

In the current era of a knowledge-based economy, knowledge plays an important role in driving the value of an organization. Individuals with valued knowledge help to achieve and extend the organizational performance that ultimately contributes to the sustainability of the organizations ( Ha and Lo, 2018 ). Therefore, organizations with a lack of knowledge sharing capacities not performed well in competitive markets. Prior researches stated that entrepreneurs participated in the development and sharing of valuable knowledge, that can not only improve entrepreneurial performance as well as enhance the organizational performance ( Ohemeng and Kamga, 2020 ). Knowledge sharing capacity assists in problem-solving, adopting new technology, creating an invention, and enhancing the dynamic capabilities of an organization ( Ali et al., 2019 ).

The knowledge-sharing capacity of an entrepreneur develops the dynamic capability for getting competitive advantages ( Liao et al., 2007 ). The researchers argued that knowledge sharing helps the dynamic capability of an individual and organization to develop new products, engage the entrepreneur to absorb the change, show willingness for competitive advantages ( Carmeli et al., 2013 ; Kang and Lee, 2017 ). Moreover, Lin and Wu (2014) explored that dynamic capability is the combination of designed structure and learning of different activities, which helps the entrepreneur and organization in daily routine work. Dynamic capability helps in managing the inner capacities of an organization and assists in performance. Therefore, knowledge management is not enough to enhance performance until considering knowledge sharing as a dynamic capability in relation to entrepreneurial and organizational performance ( Rafique et al., 2018 ). Therefore, this study posited that;

H1a: Knowledge sharing capacity has a positive influence on dynamic capability.

H1b: Knowledge sharing capacity has a positive influence on entrepreneurial performance.

H1c: Knowledge sharing capacity has a positive influence on organizational performance.

Relationship Between Innovative Capacity, Dynamic Capability, Entrepreneurial and Organizational Performance

Innovative capacity is considered as an important factor to innovate something new or different ( Furman et al., 2002 ). In the context of innovative capacity, the use of skills to create new ideas with an association of vision and capabilities ( Lawson and Lorenz, 1999 ). Every organization plans to start a new corporation with a unique approach, the challenge is not only to discover an excellent idea but also to invent an opportunity that helps the entrepreneur to build with innovative capacity ( Halkos and Skouloudis, 2018 ). There are less empirical researches proves that innovative capacity and organizational performance growth parallel ( Hernández-Perlines et al., 2019 ). Gieske et al. (2016) argue that innovative capacity is based on human and capital resources; it also depends on the overall infrastructure of the organization and the combination of a proactive and innovative environment. The process of commercialization of an organization has interacted through innovative capacity, which directly affects and increases the percentage of organizational performance in the market.

The absorption of external knowledge prepares the entrepreneur to increase the innovative capacity ( Wu et al., 2017 ). Innovative capacity determined the organizational culture, leadership characteristics, procedure of product invention, and the use of strategies in launching new products with organizational performance ( Proksch et al., 2017 ). Many studies have been conducted to consider the role of innovative capacity and its relation with dynamic capability in organizational performance ( Najmi et al., 2018 ). Organizations with innovative capacity and proactive behavior change the business environment to improve performance ( Zhou et al., 2019 ). Furthermore, researchers explored that innovative capacity raises the energy level of an organization, which positively influences on organizational performance ( Fainshmidt et al., 2016 ).

Ferreira et al. (2020b) described innovation is the process to improve and launch a new product in the market, enhance product quality and productivity through the development of the manufacturing process and its adoption. García-Sánchez et al. (2018) explained that as the level of innovative capacity becomes higher; it gives an edge to the entrepreneurial performance by using dynamic capabilities. The entrepreneur utilizes dynamic capabilities to absorb innovation for competitive advantages. Moreover, the innovative capacity differentiates entrepreneurs and organizations across the market due to their competitive dynamic capabilities. The innovative capacity and dynamic capability associate to attain the performance in a professional setting ( Liu et al., 2018 ). Considering the innovative capacity as a vital dynamic capability lead toward the entrepreneurial and organizational performance of textile-based SMEs, this study hypothesized that;

H2a: Innovative capacity has a positive impact on dynamic capability.

H2b: Innovative capacity has a positive influence on entrepreneurial performance.

H2c: Innovative capacity has a positive influence on organizational performance.

Relationship Between Absorptive Capacity, Dynamic Capability, Entrepreneurial and Organizational Performance

Absorptive capacity assists the entrepreneurs in understanding and utilizing valuable information, to build marketing strategies, which generate long term financial profit and increase the performance ( Kale et al., 2019 ). The significant relationship between absorptive capacity and dynamic capability has been proved by Latukha and Veselova (2019) and further included the process of evaluation and adaptation for entrepreneurial performance in an organization. Liu et al. (2020) proposed that imminent absorptive capacity and comprehended absorptive capacity are essential, rather than adequate, and to attain competitive organizational benefits, both expected and comprehended capability plays a significant role in enhancing the performance. Absorptive capability is a blend of potential absorptive capability and comprehended absorptive capability, and is known as potential competency, which permits an organization to increase, assimilate, integrate, transfer and utilize new knowledge for the organizational and entrepreneurial performance ( Chaudhary and Batra, 2018 ).

Furthermore, Ahn et al. (2016) proposed that the firm’s absorptive capacity plays a beneficial role in the research and development activities and organizational learning of the firms. Therefore, the firms with a high level of absorptive capacity lead the firms to enhance their innovation performance. Additionally, Xue et al. (2019) asserted that the firm’s absorptive capacity is considered to be critical to the firm’s innovative capabilities. Ince et al. (2016) endorsed the positive influence of absorptive capacity on dynamic capability, which improves entrepreneurial skills. The absorptive capacity allows entrepreneurs or organizations to absorb internal and external knowledge, which is necessary to gain ideas and implications for performance strategies. Few studies focused on the firms’ absorptive capacity in deriving technological information from external means and how it contributes to organizational skills and activities ( Verma et al., 2017 ; Chaudhary, 2019 ). Absorptive capacity is not only a base for organizational performance, but other factors are also involved, such as entrepreneurial performance ( Rangus and Slavec, 2017 ). Therefore, absorptive capacity has been considered as an important part of dynamic capability, which boosts the performance of textile-based SMEs.

H3a: Absorptive capacity has a positive impact on dynamic capability.

H3b: Absorptive capacity has a positive influence on entrepreneurial performance.

H3c: Absorptive capacity has a positive influence on organizational performance.

Relationship Between Dynamic Capability, Entrepreneurial and Organizational Performance

Dynamic capability is the part of the entrepreneurial restructuring and environmental changes, which is directly linked with its performance. In high-tech firms, the dynamic capabilities of an entrepreneur are the most reliable and sound source for taking advantage ( Jiang et al., 2018 ). Raza et al. (2018) dynamic capabilities cover sensing, reconfiguring, and seizing capability of a performance organization. The dynamic capabilities of an organization guide in utilizing valuable resources during the performance ( Zhou et al., 2019 ). Moreover, dynamic capability help to innovate a new product accepts to create and show its willingness to achieve competitive advantage through knowledge sharing behavior. In some organizations, employees are afraid to share knowledge with entrepreneurs and other colleagues to hinder the progress of other co-workers ( Falasca et al., 2017 ). Prior researchers believed that, once the discouraging knowledge sharing behavior establish in an organization environment, it will be unfavorable, difficult to change ( Ha and Lo, 2018 ; Ferreira et al., 2020a ).

Looking into previous studies resource-based theory explored the relationship between the dynamic capability of an entrepreneur and entrepreneurial performance ( Battisti and Deakins, 2017 ; Wang and Kim, 2017 ). The dynamic capability of an entrepreneur assists in facing new challenges, exploring opportunities to maintain and develop organizational performance. The decision-making power and dynamic capability of an organization with market strategies enhance innovative capacity, which assists in-process and technological innovation ( Rafique et al., 2018 ). The researcher suggested that procedure of attaining, developing, distributing, and providing services from dealers to customers with dynamic organizational capabilities enhance organizational performance ( Pezeshkan et al., 2016 ). Moreover, the organization requires peripheral resources to supplement the inefficiency of their internal skills and actions with dynamic capability for organizational performance ( Bamel and Bamel, 2018 ).

Now a day’s many organizations are working on people as a resource for performance. The employee-driven force, with dynamic capability in an organization, plays a significant impact on competitive advantages and organizational performance ( Braganza et al., 2017 ). Organizations with dynamic capability overcome the competitor threats and block the competitor’s actions ( Likoum et al., 2020 ); it minimizes the expected competitor’s actions with potential adverse in organizational performance and facilitates the entrepreneurs and organization with idea creation. Therefore, the following hypotheses are proposed:

H4a: Dynamic capability has a positive impact on entrepreneurial performance.

H5a: Dynamic capability has a positive impact on organizational performance.

Mediating Effect of Dynamic Capability

Prior researchers argued that dynamic capability has a positive impact on organizational performance ( Xing et al., 2020 ). Dynamic capability helps to develop a new product by knowledge sharing capacity of the entrepreneur within the organization ( Wang and Kim, 2017 ). Knowledge sharing increases the knowledge resource with a considerable role of the dynamic capability to achieve a competitive advantage ( Kang and Lee, 2017 ). Researchers explored that innovative capacity raises the energy level of an organization, which positively influences performance ( Proksch et al., 2017 ). Moreover, organizations with a higher level of innovative capacity are more prone to perform well, and in a better position to recognize market opportunities ( Torabi and El-Den, 2017 ). The absorptive capacity of an entrepreneur absorbs the innovative technology and makes it feasible for an organization to accumulate the resources for objectives and competitive advantages ( Kale et al., 2019 ). Furthermore, in a similar context, absorptive capacity, and dynamic capability are found fundamental to organizational success ( Ferreira et al., 2020b ). Organizations with a higher absorptive capacity assist in learning from competitors with firm dynamic capabilities as well as demonstrate the knowledge in organizations for better performance ( Latukha and Veselova, 2019 ).

There is a considerable role in dynamic capability as a mediator between organizational performance and knowledge management practices. The proper utilization of dynamic capability is acquired knowledge, innovative, and absorptive capacities lead the performance of an entrepreneur and organization ( Likoum et al., 2020 ). Therefore, this study incorporates the mediating role of dynamic capability in the relationship between knowledge management practices such as knowledge sharing, innovative, and absorptive capacity with entrepreneurial and organizational performance. Therefore, the following hypotheses are proposed:

H4b: Dynamic capability mediates the relationship between knowledge sharing capacity and entrepreneurial performance.

H5b: Dynamic capability mediates the relationship between knowledge sharing capacity and organizational performance.

H4c: Dynamic capability mediates the relationship between innovative capacity and entrepreneurial performance.

H5c: Dynamic capability mediates the relationship between innovative capacity and organizational performance.

H4d: Dynamic capability mediates the relationship between absorptive capacity and entrepreneurial performance.

H5d: Dynamic capability mediates the relationship between absorptive capacity and organizational performance.

Relationship Between Entrepreneurial and Organizational Performance

Entrepreneurial performance is concerned with risk-taking and decision-making attitude, product invention for the organization, and market innovation ( Kantur, 2016 ). Entrepreneurial performance associated with the new values and creativity, time, resources, risks, and another ingredient toward organizational performance ( Miao et al., 2017 ). The prior studies show that entrepreneurial performance can lead the firm performance ( Chavez et al., 2017 ; Al-Henzab et al., 2018 ). Moreover, prior studies argued that entrepreneurial performance is an essential factor for the long term survival and development of the organization ( Hartono and Halim, 2014 ). Al-Dhaafri et al. (2016) found that entrepreneurial performance always has a positive influence on organizational performance and can help organizations to achieve competitive advantages. Furthermore, Filser and Eggers (2014) examined the role of entrepreneurial performance on organizational performance researching different countries such as Austria, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland, which found that entrepreneurial performance significantly influenced SME’s development. Thus, entrepreneurial performance enabling the achievement of organizational performance and propose the following hypothesis.

H6: Entrepreneurial performance has a positive impact on organizational performance.

The Moderating Role of Opportunity Recognition in the Relationship Between Entrepreneurial and Organizational Performance

Opportunity recognition proposed that the cognitive of different entrepreneur’s results are different in the entrepreneurial process and performance ( Hmieleski and Baron, 2008 ). Hasan et al. (2016) discussed the mediating role of opportunity recognition in association with entrepreneurial performance and found it as a critical factor in enhancing entrepreneurial performance. Furthermore, a large number of scholars suggested that self-made strategies of an entrepreneur play a significant role in the process of opportunity recognition ( Bagheri, 2017 ; Ploum et al., 2018 ). However, due to less focus by researchers on this crucial factor, we incorporate opportunity recognition in this study to measure its impact on the relationship between dynamic capability and entrepreneurial performance. Therefore, competitive advantages are important for entrepreneurs and also impact organizational performance until unless dynamic capabilities put through, and capabilities are important for performance ( Teece et al., 2016 ).

Opportunity recognition is to recognize the capabilities to attain the best source from the market for competitive advantages and entrepreneurial performance ( Teece, 2016 ). Entrepreneurial opportunities are renowned through circumstances that new goods, services, raw materials, and procedures could be offered and commercialized at advanced value than the production budget. There is a deficiency in opportunity recognition, concerning entrepreneurial performance ( George et al., 2016 ), and the efficacious entrepreneur always chooses appropriate opportunity with competences ( Kim et al., 2018 ), formerly and subsequently business ventures leads to the successful entrepreneurial performance. Opportunity recognition plays a vital role in entrepreneurial performance.

The opportunity for organizational performance, positive entrepreneur behavior, dynamic capabilities, market knowledge, positioning of services provide more opportunities to acquire the market to grow and survive ( Jantunen et al., 2005 ). The researchers argue that organizations with dynamic capabilities obtain more competitive advantages than other firms, and opportunity recognition gives a chance for better performance in product development and organizational performance ( Chirico and Nordqvist, 2010 ; Swoboda and Olejnik, 2016 ). However, there is less focus on SME’s empirical research related to the moderating role of opportunity recognition and its drivers in smaller organizations. Ferreira et al. (2020a) focused on the dynamic organizational capabilities in small organizations with opportunities for competitive advantages.

Sanz-Velasco (2006) argued that market interaction and entrepreneurs’ life experiences related to the market, industrial knowledge, and resources should be considered for opportunity recognition. The researchers proposed that an opportunity may have an impression of vaguely distinct market needs, which means that potential consumers may or may not have the capability to articulate their demands and interests ( Roundy et al., 2018 ; Li et al., 2020b ). The identification of the needs of a customer might lead to a prompt appearance of opportunity recognition, which is a result of better organizational performances ( Hu et al., 2018 ).

Besides, the researchers suggested that market potential influences the opportunity recognition in the process of product development ( Obschonka and Hahn, 2018 ; Neneh, 2019 ). Therefore, the idea of entrepreneurship is related to the process of evaluation, discovery, exploration, sources, and recognition of opportunities that highly influence the entrepreneurial and organizational performance ( Campos, 2017 ). Thus, this study postulates that better opportunity recognition would lead to higher organizational and entrepreneurial performance and formulate the following hypothesis:

H7a: Opportunity recognition positively moderates the relationship between dynamic capability and entrepreneur performance.

H7b: Opportunity recognition positively moderates the relationship between dynamic capability and organizational performance.

Materials and Methods

Sample and data collection.

The nature of this study was cross-sectional and data were collected through a convenience sampling technique. Figure 1 shows the conceptual model of the study. The target population was the SME’s of Pakistan because SME’s were considered as the backbone industry of Pakistan. Moreover, we selected big cities such as Lahore, Faisalabad, Sheikhupura, Karachi, Multan, and Sialkot of Pakistan for data collection. To avoid the issue of common method bias ( Podsakoff et al., 2012 ), we collected data in two rounds using the time-lag approach. In the first round, we collected data for knowledge management practices and dynamic capability measures. In the second round, we collected data for entrepreneurial and organizational performance and opportunity recognition. However, due to the unavailability of registered SME’s in Pakistan, we contacted small and medium chambers of commerce of every city to provide the list of SMEs, after getting the list from the chamber we contacted the SME’s owners through emails and personal visits.

Figure 1. Conceptual model.

Furthermore, we distributed 600 paper-pencil questionnaires to the respondents who positively respond to us on email and personal visits. We ensured them that this research is purely for academic purposes and the information will be confidential. The original draft of the questionnaire was in English and Urdu language because some of the SME’s owners were illiterate. Finally, in the initial screening, we received 508 questionnaires with a participation rate was 84.6% and 22 responses were dropped due to missing data. Thus, the final sample size was 486 responses. Among the valid responses, all the respondents were male and the age of respondents was starting from 18 years to 47 years and above. The highest age range of respondents was 33–39 (32.30%). Additionally, the highest work experience of the respondent was 1–5 years (26.13%) and the region of SMEs was Faisalabad, Lahore, Sialkot, Sheikhupura, Karachi, and Multan. The highest response rate was from Faisalabad 119 (24.48%) and the lowest response rate was from Sialkot 31 (6.37%).

To ensure the realistic and effective content of the research model, a structured questionnaire was compiled, and all exogenous variables were constructed and operationalized from the existing literature of knowledge sharing capacity, innovative capacity, absorptive capacity, dynamic capability, and opportunity recognition, entrepreneurial and organizational performance. To measure the 41 constructs, we used a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 strongly disagree to 5 strongly agree to quantify the results.

Knowledge Sharing Capacity

To measure knowledge sharing capacity five items were adapted from the study of Hsu et al. (2007) . This scale is widely accepted and used by previous researchers ( Davenport and Prusak, 1998 ; Keikha, 2018 ). A sample item, “I frequently participate in knowledge sharing activities.”

Innovative Capacity

To assess innovative capacity we have adopted five measurement constructs from the study of Hurley and Hult (1998) . A sample item “risk-taking is encouraged in our firm.”

Absorptive Capacity

To measure absorptive capacity four items were used developed by Leal-Rodríguez et al. (2014) . A sample item “our firm regularly considers the consequences of changing market demand in terms of new ways to provide services.”

Dynamic Capability

A dynamic capability was measured using two dimensions exploration and exploitation, with 3 items each. This scale was adapted from the study of Atuahene-Gima (2005) . This scale was used by previous researchers ( Ferreira et al., 2020a ). A sample item for exploration “acquired manufacturing technologies and skills entirely new the firm.” A sample item off exploitation “upgraded current knowledge and skills for familiar products and technologies.”

Opportunity Recognition

The five measurement items for opportunity recognition taken from the study of Kuckertz et al. (2017) . A sample item “my organization always alert to business opportunities.”

Entrepreneurial Performance

To measure entrepreneurial performance, we used eleven items scale developed by Colbert et al. (2008) . A sample item “entrepreneurs: forms goals, allocates resources to meet them, and monitors progress toward them.”

Organizational Performance

To examine organizational performance, four items were adopted from the study ( García-Morales et al., 2008 ). A sample item “return on assets.”

Data Analysis Technique

We used the partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique to test the measurement model and structural model results. The Smart-PLS3 software is used to cover the flaws in the data and bring fluency in data results. This software is also used to estimate the causal and empirical model relationship between the variables as well as examine the correlation between constructs, respectively ( Hair et al., 2010 ). Nowadays this software is considered as a silver bullet in the field of management science research and used by several researchers to test the hypotheses results ( Hair et al., 2011 ; Li et al., 2020a ).

Measurement of Model

The fitness of the model was assessed through reliability and validity analysis. Table 1 shows the values for Cronbach’s alpha (CA), rho_A, the average value extracted (AVE), and composite reliability (CR). The values of convergent validity should be higher than the thrush hold values; rho_A ≥ 0.7, CR ≥ 0.8, AVE ≥ 0.50, and CA ≥ 0.80. Therefore, it is seen that all the constructs were above a threshold value and acceptable range as benchmark suggested by Nunally and Bernstein (1978) . Moreover, the values for Cronbach’s alpha was 0.936–0.953, values for AVE was 0.666–0.839, value for rho_A was 0.934–0.954, and values of CR was 0.952–0.964.

Table 1. Construct reliability and validity.

Discriminant Validity

Discriminant validity was measured using two criteria’s Fornell–Larcker and Heterotrait-Mono-Trait Ratio (HTMT). Table 2 shows the results of Fornell–Larcker criteria, as per this criterion the square root of AVE is called discriminant validity ( Fornell and Larcker, 1981 ). Therefore, it is observed in Table 2 the values were higher than the correlations was discriminant validity. Furthermore, HTMT criteria were also applied to analyze the discriminant validity. As per this criterion, the values for HTMT should be less than one ( Henseler et al., 2015 ). It is seen in Table 3 all the values of HTMT are up to the threshold value. Thus, there was no issue in discriminant validity.

Table 2. Fornell-larcker criterion.

Table 3. HTMT ratio criterion.

Structural Model

The structural model was measured through a bootstrapping test and the level of significance. The fitness of the structural model was assessed through standardized root means square residual (SRMR). According to Henseler et al. (2015) a value of a good model should have a <0.08 of SRMR value. Thus, the value for SRMR was 0.043 which below the threshold value. Moreover, the structural model explained R 2 26.5% variance in dynamic capability, 25.2% variance in entrepreneurial performance, and 30.6% variance in organizational performance. According to Chin (1998) desired values of R 2 must be greater than 0.1 or zero. Hence, the structural model results of R 2 were greater than 0.1 values which show the positive predictive significance of the model.

Testing of Hypotheses

The results of the hypotheses were shown in Table 4 and Figure 2 . This study proposed H1a KSC positively influence on DC and the results indicate that KSC has a positive and significant impact on dynamic capability (β = 0.203 ∗∗ , t = 4.567, and p < 0.001). Moreover, we predicted H1b KSC positively influence on EP and the findings illustrate that KSC positively related to the EP (β = 0.157 ∗∗ , t = 3.116, and p < 0.002). Meanwhile, we proposed H1c KSC positively effect on OP and the outcome indicates that KSC has a positive impact on OP (β = 0.225 ∗∗ , t = 4.149, and p < 0.001). Thus, H1a, H1b, and H1c were accepted.

Table 4. Path coefficients (direct effects).

Figure 2. Structural model.

Furthermore, we predicted H2a IC positively influence on DC and results explain that IC has a positive and significant influence on DC (β = 0.188 ∗∗ , t = 4.470, and p < 0.001). Moreover, we proposed that H2b IC positively affects EP and the findings indicate that IC has a positive and significant impact on EP (β = 0.228 ∗∗ , t = 5.192, and p < 0.001). Besides, we predicted H2c IC positively influence on OP and the results illustrate that IC has a positive effect on OP (β = 0.139 ∗∗ , t = 3.191, and p < 0.001). Hence, H2a, H2b, and H2c were supported.

Additionally, we assumed that H3a AC positively influences on DC and the findings indicate that AC has a positive and significant impact on DC (β = 0.237 ∗∗ , t = 4.829, and p < 0.001). Moreover, we proposed H3b AC positively effects EP and the results show that AC has a positive and significant influence on EP (β = 0.174 ∗∗ , t = 3.641, and p < 0.001). Furthermore, we predicted H3c AC positively impact on OP and findings illustrate that AC also has a positive and significant impact on OP (β = 0.116 ∗∗ , t = 2.588, and p < 0.010). Therefore, H3a, H3b, and H3c were accepted.

Lastly we, predicted H4a that DC positively effects on EP and results indicate that DC positively influence on EP (β = 0.142 ∗∗ , t = 3.020, and p < 0.003). Moreover, we proposed H5a DC positively effect on OP and findings show that DC has a positive and significant impact on OP (β = 0.165 ∗∗ , t = 3.540, and p < 0.001). Furthermore, we predicted H6 EP positively leads to OP and the outcomes explain that EP has a positive and significant influence on OP (β = 0.110 ∗∗ , t = 2.063, and p < 0.039). Thus, H4a, H5a, and H6 were also supported.

We tested the mediating effect of dynamic capability in the relationship between knowledge sharing capacity, innovative and absorptive capacity with entrepreneurial and organizational performance and results were shown in Table 5 . We proposed H4b DC mediates positively between KSC and EP and we found that DC has a positive indirect effect in the relationship between KSC and EP (β = 0.029 ∗∗ , t = 2.385, and p < 0.017). Moreover, we predicted H4c DC positively mediates between IC and EP and we found that DC has a positive indirect influence in the relationship between IC and EP (β = 0.027 ∗∗ , t = 2.398, and p < 0.017). Furthermore, we supposed H4d DC mediates the AC and EP and the results indicate that DC has a positive and significant indirect impact in the relationship between AC and EP (β = 0.034 ∗∗ , t = 0.013, and p < 0.011).

Table 5. Mediation analysis (indirect effects).

Additionally, we predicted H5b DC positively mediates the relationship between KSC and OP and we found that DC has a positive indirect influence in the relationship KSC and OP (β = 0.033 ∗∗ , t = 2.737, and p < 0.006). Besides, we proposed H5c DC mediates positively between AC and OP and findings show that DC has a positive indirect effect in the relationship between AC and OP (β = 0.039 ∗∗ , t = 2.902, and p < 0.004). Meanwhile, we proposed H5d DC positively mediates between IC and OP and we found that DC also has an indirect effect in the relationship between IC and OP (β = 0.031 ∗∗ , t = 2.507, and p < 0.012). Hence, H5b, H5c, H5d were accepted.

The Moderating Role of Opportunity Recognition

The moderating role of OR was also testified with the help of structural model results. Table 6 and Figure 3 show the moderating impact of OR in the relationship between DC with EP and OP. Moreover, we tested H7a OR to have a significant and positive moderation effect in the relationship between DC and EP. The results indicate that OR strengthening the relationship between DC and EP (β = 0.107 ∗∗ , t = 4.135, and p < 0.001). Furthermore, we predicted H7b OR in the relationship between DC and OP and the findings show that OR strengthening the positive and significant role in the relationship between DC and OP (β = 0.143 ∗∗ , t = 3.221, and p < 0.001). Therefore, H7a and H7b were accepted.

Table 6. Moderating effects.

Figure 3. Interaction of OP and DC with EP and OR.

Common Method Bias and Multicollinearity Test

Common method bias and variance inflation factor (VIF) factors (multicollinearity) were also performed. We used Harman’s test to find out the common method bias in the data. According to Harman (1976) if all the factors merged in principle rotated matrix and the initial eigenvalue explaining >50% of the variance. There is an issue of common method bias. Therefore, we performed the analysis using principle rotated matrix and the factors emerged from factor analysis and the first factor of initial eigenvalue explaining 40.24% of the total variance. Thus, there is no issue of common method bias in the data. Furthermore, the VIF test also performed. As suggested by Aiken et al. (1991) value of VIF should be between the 5 to 10 were acceptable and if the values were above 10 there is an issue in multicollinearity. The output of Table 7 shows that there is no issue of multicollinearity in the data.

Table 7. Cross loadings.

This study investigates the impact of dynamic capability as a mediator and the role of opportunity recognition as a moderator between dynamic capability with entrepreneurial and organizational performance. The study path coefficient provides empirical support to the proposed hypotheses and found significant findings with p -value < 0.05 and t -value > 2. The results support our hypothesis H1a knowledge sharing capacity predicts greater DC, which supported the explanation and consistent with the prior studies of Chirico and Nordqvist (2010) and Ferreira et al. (2020b) . The dynamic capability is helpful incompetency to figure, integrate, and reconfigure internal and external capability to enhance rapid change in the environment. The result of H1b offers that knowledge sharing capacity has a positive relationship with entrepreneurial performance and the findings are in line with the previous researchers commented on by Hsu et al. (2007) and Liao et al. (2007) . The result of H1c confirms that knowledge sharing capacity has a significant impact on organizational performance and commented with the studies of Torabi and El-Den (2017) and Ali et al. (2019) .

The result of H2a proposed that innovative capacity influenced dynamic capability and the outcome is consistent with the prior studies of Hung et al. (2010) and Ferreira et al. (2020b) . The result of H2b offers that innovative capacity has a positive impact on entrepreneurial performance and the finding is similar to a prior study of Jantunen et al. (2005) . The outcome of H2c proposed that innovative capacity positively influenced organizational performance and finding is matched with the previous study of Furman et al. (2002) .

Moreover, the finding of H3a found that absorptive capacity positively affects dynamic capability and the results are consistent with existing studies ( Chaudhary and Batra, 2018 ; Kale et al., 2019 ). Meanwhile, the result of H3b suggested that absorptive capacity positively influenced entrepreneurial performance, and finding is matched with the study of Kang and Lee (2017) . The result of H3c supported that absorptive capacity has a positive impact on organizational performance and the finding is in line with the previous researcher ( Chaudhary, 2019 ).

The finding of H4a dynamic capability has a positive influence on entrepreneurial performance. This result is consistent with the prior scholar ( Ferreira et al., 2020b ). Furthermore, the H5a result stated that dynamic capability positively and significantly related to the organizational performance, and finding is matched to the existing study of Fainshmidt et al. (2016) . Besides, the result of H6 suggested that entrepreneurial performance significantly influenced organizational performance, and the result of H4b stated that dynamic capability as a mediating effect in the relationship between knowledge sharing capacity and entrepreneurial performance. This finding is similar to previous researchers ( Hsu et al., 2007 ; Swoboda and Olejnik, 2016 ; Torabi and El-Den, 2017 ). The result of H4c confirms that innovative capacity trigger dynamic capability on entrepreneurial performance and the result is consistent with ( Hung et al., 2010 ). The result of H4d stated that dynamic capability positively mediates the relationship with absorptive capacity and entrepreneurial performance and finding is confirmed to ( Ahn et al., 2016 ).

Additionally, the result of H5b suggested that dynamic capability positively mediates in the relationship between knowledge sharing capacity and organizational performance, and the findings are consistent with prior studies of Protogerou et al. (2012) and Teece (2016) . The finding of H5c recommended that dynamic capability positively mediates in the relationship between absorptive capacity and organizational performance. This result is similar to Zhou et al. (2019) . The result of H5d found that dynamic capability positively mediates the relationship between innovative capacity and organizational performance. This finding is matched to ( Bamel and Bamel, 2018 ).

Lastly, the result of H7a found that opportunity recognition positively moderates the relationship between dynamic capability and entrepreneurial performance. The finding stated that opportunity recognition strengthens the positive and significant moderation effect on the relationship between dynamic capability and entrepreneurial performance. This output is consistent with prior studies of Sanz-Velasco (2006) and Roundy et al. (2018) . Moreover, the result of H7b suggested that opportunity recognition moderates in the relationship between dynamic capability and organizational performance. This result is also in line with the prior findings of researchers ( Jiang et al., 2018 ; Ploum et al., 2018 ).

This research extends the existing literature by exploring the importance of knowledge management practices, dynamic capabilities, and opportunity recognition to increase SME’s entrepreneurial and organizational performance. Numerous researches have been devoted to evaluating the SME’s performance and recognized the role of knowledge management practices with dynamic capabilities to achieve appropriate results. Therefore, the dynamic capabilities of SMEs in the term or knowledge management practices via capabilities and opportunities play a vital role in entrepreneurial and organizational performance. The finding of this research indicated that knowledge management practices regulate the SME’s entrepreneurial and organizational performance with the significant values of beta coefficient, t -values, and p -values. Furthermore, results suggested that dynamic capabilities play a vital role in SME’s performance, and opportunity recognition moderates the relationship between dynamic capability with entrepreneurial and organizational performance. These arguments narrate how knowledge management practices assist entrepreneurs and organizations in performance, which may positively affect on unemployment and economic growth in a country.

Practical Implications

This study has some practical implications for industry practitioners, the SME sector, and researchers in the field of entrepreneurship and organizational performance. Firstly, the study contributes to the scientific literature of SME’s performances, knowledge management capacities, dynamic capabilities, and opportunities. For a better understanding of government and non-government textile-based SME sectors, recommended deriving from this research result, which is beneficial in reducing the graph of failure business. Secondly, this study suggested that textile-based SMEs with less performance will get much assistance through this research. Thirdly, this study helps SMEs to establish a more effective way to transfer knowledge in an organization to develop a strong environment for achieving organizational goals-against competitors. It is important for the organizational operation and emerging economies because the organization faces a shortage of internal and external information, which affects the SME’s performance. Fourthly, with the help of dynamic capabilities, SMEs develop the organizational and entrepreneurial quality across the organizational boundaries. Furthermore, this study also brings riven literature on knowledge management capacities into a broader perspective for SME’s performances.

Limitations and Future Research Directions

The study has few limitations, which need to be acknowledged. The data was collected from one source or the same source. The limitation for the cross-sectional nature of data also exists, and for future research, for researchers, longitudinal data is recommended. For future research direction, this model will assist in multi-disciplinary SMEs, to raise the level of entrepreneurial and organizational performance in Pakistan. The precise and better conclusion for researchers may consider demographics, government policies, and regulation for SMEs as control variables. Here, another limitation related to the study, the sample population was bound to the gender and capture 100% of males due to the selected region. The business was based on male category businesses. This research finding may be affected due to gender discrimination. So, for future research replication to the current study should consider the gender composition. Finally, the proposed model of research was tested on Pakistani male entrepreneurs and organizations running through the male businessman. However, for future recommendation, the research may consider more and different industries, including big-size sample data with male and female entrepreneurs. This research may replicate and increase in the research model for applicability to find.

Furthermore, future researchers also conduct a similar pattern of research in a different time frame. As it is aforementioned that knowledge and innovation capacity is not constant it grew and may enhance as the context evolved with development. Hence, the knowledge and learning ability of a person may vary as time passes. It’s the main course of reason to suggest future researchers conduct a longitudinal study for the spectrum presented in this research.

Data Availability Statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Ethics Statement

Ethical review and approval was not required for the study on human participants in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. Written informed consent for participation was not required for this study in accordance with the national legislation and the institutional requirements.

Author Contributions

SA conceived the idea and developed a proposed model to discuss. All authors provided critical feedback and helped to shape the research, analysis, and manuscript. CL led the whole project and direct in all steps, she refined the idea and directed all authors to move on. SA and IB collectively worked to design the research plan. They encouraged FS and MR to investigate and pilot testing. Further all authors participated in data collection. MM and NS developed the theory and SA helped him to perform the computations. FS and IB verified the analytical methods. SA and MM took the lead in writing the manuscript and supervised the findings of this work. All authors discussed the results and contributed to the final manuscript. All authors provided critical feedback and helped to shape the research, analysis, and manuscript. At the final stage and revision of the manuscript MM, NS, and MR prepared the document according to the mutually decided pattern which has considered as the best presentation of prescribed research design.

This work was supported by the self-organized cluster entrepreneurship behavior reform, evolution, and promotion strategies study (No. 16BGL028), the China National Social Science Foundation; the study on Bottleneck and Innovation of Postindustrial Intellectual Capital Development in Jiangsu Province (No. 14JD009), Jiangsu Province Social Science Foundation Project; and perception of fairness in self-organized mass Entrepreneurship (No. 4061160023).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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Keywords : knowledge management practices, dynamic capability, opportunity recognition, organizational performance, entrepreneurial performance, mediated-moderated model

Citation: Li C, Ashraf SF, Shahzad F, Bashir I, Murad M, Syed N and Riaz M (2020) Influence of Knowledge Management Practices on Entrepreneurial and Organizational Performance: A Mediated-Moderation Model. Front. Psychol. 11:577106. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.577106

Received: 28 June 2020; Accepted: 29 September 2020; Published: 03 December 2020.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2020 Li, Ashraf, Shahzad, Bashir, Murad, Syed and Riaz. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Sheikh Farhan Ashraf, [email protected] ; Majid Murad, [email protected]

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Knowledge management in SMEs: a follow-up literature review

Journal of Knowledge Management

ISSN : 1367-3270

Article publication date: 26 January 2023

Issue publication date: 18 December 2023

The purpose of this paper is to structure existing research on knowledge management (KM) in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to offer a comprehensive overview of research strands and topics in KM in SMEs to determine their evolution over time.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper, which is considered a follow-up literature review, is based on a systematic literature review that covers 180 scientific papers that were published since the review paper by Durst and Edvardsson in 2012 that covered 36 papers.

The findings of this review and those of the aforementioned review are brought together in the form of an overview that structures research on KM in SMEs based on themes that, in turn, allow the derivation of promising research directions and research questions aimed at structuring future research on KM in SMEs.

Originality/value

By combining the findings of this review with the findings from the review published in this journal in 2012, this paper offers, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the most comprehensive literature review on KM in SMEs produced to date.

• Knowledge management
• Small to medium-sized enterprises
• Thematic evolution
• Systematic review
• Entrepreneurship

Durst, S. , Edvardsson, I.R. and Foli, S. (2023), "Knowledge management in SMEs: a follow-up literature review", Journal of Knowledge Management , Vol. 27 No. 11, pp. 25-58. https://doi.org/10.1108/JKM-04-2022-0325

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2023, Susanne Durst, Ingi Runar Edvardsson and Samuel Foli.

Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial & non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

1. Introduction

Ten years ago, Durst and Edvardsson (2012) published the first systematic literature review in the Journal of Knowledge Management on knowledge management (KM) in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to find out whether the increasing interest in KM directed its attention to SMEs as well. More precisely, their review aimed to explore what had been studied in the field of KM in SMEs since 2001. Durst and Edvardsson justified the choice of the year 2001 by referring to a 2001 paper by McAdam and Read, which assumed that KM developed for large companies would later also be used in SMEs.

In the meantime, we have reached the second half of 2022, and a lot has changed since then. Not only has the topic of KM become established in all types of organisations ( Zaim et al. , 2019 ; Manfredi Latilla et al. , 2019 ; Durst and Zieba, 2020 ; Su and Daspit, 2021 ) but also organisations are also facing new, then unimaginable, challenges such as transboundary crises, which revolve around threats that easily cut across geographical and/or policy boundaries (for example, the refugee crisis, COVID-19) or the invasion of Ukraine; events that not only make the importance of KM even more central but also require a new understanding of the resource knowledge or even a re-definition.

Against this background, and the well-recognised importance of SMEs as drivers of employment, economic growth and innovation in most economies, it seems imperative to review the literature on KM in SMEs again, by considering the results established at that time, to see how research has evolved since then. More precisely, it would be interesting to know what has been added, what has been examined more intensively and also which areas/themes of KM have fallen into the background? In the 2012 paper, Durst and Edvardsson stressed that the areas of KM implementation, KM perception and knowledge transfer had been studied quite extensively while research on knowledge identification, knowledge storage/retention and knowledge utilisation was underdeveloped. In addition, these authors proposed four general areas that would require more attention and development, being longitudinal studies and country comparisons, the utilisation of mixed methods approaches and studies that take a realistic lens, i.e. studies that are aware of the heterogeneity found among SMEs and a corresponding procedure.

Therefore, the objective of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of the existing research on KM in SMEs. More precisely, the overall purpose of the paper is to structure research on KM in SMEs to offer a detailed overview of research strands and topics to establish the research efforts in this field of research over time. To reach the purpose, we used the same questions which were used in the 2012 review, i.e. Which KM topics are well researched and which are not? Which were the main findings of the studies? Which methods were used? And, How does the research handle the particular challenges small firms are facing regarding KM?

Consequently, this paper contributes to KM research by providing detailed information on the evolution of KM in SME research and thus improving our understanding of the current state of knowledge. More precisely, by integrating the findings of this follow-up review with those findings established in the review by Durst and Edvardsson, the present paper provides to our knowledge the most comprehensive literature review of KM in SMEs to date, in terms of depth and breadth. The paper goes far beyond the existing reviews on the topic that have been published since 2012 and that have predominantly dealt with the certain parts or specific perspectives of KM in SMEs, such as the review by Cerchione et al. (2016) on KM in SME networks or that by Saratchandra and Shrestha (2022) on the role of cloud computing for KM in SMEs. The review by Massaro et al. (2016) is an exception; these authors also looked at KM holistically. However, the work only included publications (89 in total) that were published up to 2014. By broadening both the scope and depth, the paper contributes to the advancement of KM in SME scholarship by structuring insights from the current literature and promising opportunities for future research presented in the form of a list of possible research directions and research questions categorised by themes. Recent developments in the world call for a new and comprehensive review that includes an updated period of time (2012–2022). Practitioners who wish to improve their knowledge of the topic may find the outcomes of the paper useful as well.

The paper is organised as follows. In the next section (2), the relevant literature is outlined. Section three then presents and describes the method employed. Section four presents the findings and section five synthesises the findings. In the final section (6), the conclusion and implications of the study are laid out.

2. Knowledge management in small- and medium-sized enterprises

The existing literature on SMEs often highlights that this category of organisations is exposed to resource constraints ( Jarillo, 1989 ), and as a consequence, the room for manoeuvre is reduced and the available resources must be used more carefully ( Eggers, 2020 ). Torrès and Julien (2005) argue that SMEs produce primarily for local markets and tend to lack strategic vision. Often decisions are made by intuition and short-term thinking. The tendency for ad hoc activities, for instance, ad hoc collaboration, has been found in research on outsourcing in SMEs ( Edvardsson et al. , 2011 ; Smogavec and Peljhan, 2017 ). In many of these firms, the owner-manager or founder assumes a central position ( Bridge et al. , 2003 ), which, in turn, increases the likelihood that organizational development, strategy and also decision-making are in the hand of only one person or a small number of people ( Culkin and Smith, 2000 ). Research has shown that not only the decision-making processes in SMEs differ from those in large companies but also their objectives ( Hauser et al. , 2020 ). Characteristics such as being flexible and disposing of adaptive capacity, can make decision-making in SMEs shorter and faster ( Branicki et al. , 2018 ), which can help them to be far more attuned to survival in a world that is subject to increasing number of significant economic shocks or crises as SMEs are used to dealing with uncertainty ( Durst and Henschel, 2021 ).

It has also been argued that the above-mentioned centrality influences whether or not the benefits of KM are recognised to support firm development ( Yew Wong and Aspinwall, 2004 ). Relevant knowledge and information might be in the minds of a small number of organisation members, which makes their work faster but can pose significant challenges to the small firms should these individuals leave the company for whatever reason ( Durst and Wilhelm, 2012 ; Durst et al. , 2015 ). Furthermore, since the knowledge base in SMEs is also more limited due to their size, it is important for these companies to be good networkers to have permanent access to external knowledge carriers and sources ( O’Donnell, 2014 ; Leick and Gretzinger, 2020 ); networks are considered a determinant of SME performance as well ( Lechner et al. , 2006 ).

SMEs are highly sensitive to external threats because of the “liability of smallness”, which means that the probability of failure among such firms, specifically the younger and “smaller” SMEs, is much higher compared with larger and established firms ( Davidsson and Gordon, 2016 ). Since external shocks are often coupled with other types of disruptions, the availability of firm-specific resources is likely to be further reduced ( Osiyevskyy et al. , 2020 ), and thus, the scope of action decreases too ( Durst et al. , 2021 ). This, in turn, also means that SMEs will be exposed to other KM challenges which are distinct from those of the large companies. Underlining Welsh et al. ’s (1982) statement that small firms are not little big firms, thus one cannot transfer KM practices from large organisations to SMEs. Existing literature related to SMEs, however, suggests that scholars still tend to apply approaches originally developed for larger firms on SMEs – although previous research on KM in SMEs has shown differences between SMEs and larger firms ( McAdam and Reid, 2001 ; Durst and Bruns, 2018 ). For example, research has shown that many SMEs have no strategic approach to KM but tend to treat KM on an operational level ( Durst and Edvardsson, 2012 ; Massaro et al. , 2016 ). Referring to the situation that KM is often discussed by the means of different KM processes (KMPs) ( Alavi and Leidner, 2001 ; Yew Wong and Aspinwall, 2004 ) such as knowledge identification, knowledge creation, knowledge storage, knowledge dissemination and knowledge application, Durst and Edvardsson, in their paper from 2012 have brought these processes together with typical SME characteristics such as lack of resources, flexibility, smallness, less formal and lower turnover rates to highlight the likely impact of these KMPs on SME survival.

In addition, what needs to be noted when researching SMEs is the issue of heterogeneity ( Curran and Blackburn, 2001 ). The different categories of firms that are assigned to SMEs, micro, small and medium-sized ones, are difficult to compare; thus, one should refrain from the idea that there could be one single KM approach that fits all SMEs ( Durst and Edvardsson, 2012 ). Finally, and despite the fact that the majority of companies are micro-, small- or medium-sized enterprises ( European Commission, 2022 ), KM has traditionally been considered in the context of large companies ( Durst and Edvardsson, 2012 ; Massaro et al. , 2016 ).

In summary, we believe that the above arguments and insights justify the need for both intensive and solid research on KM in SMEs and this study.

3. Methodology of literature review

In this follow-up paper, we also adopted the principles of a systematic review as recommended by Jesson et al. (2011) , namely, mapping the field through a scoping review, comprehensive search, quality assessment, data extraction synthesis and write up.

Which KM topics are well researched and which are not?

Which were the main findings of the studies?

Which methods were used? With regard to the specific challenges, SMEs face as a consequence of their resource limitations.

How does the research handle the particular challenges small firms are facing regarding knowledge management?

As keywords (search string) (“knowledge management” OR “KM””) AND (“SME*” OR “small firm*” OR “small and medium-sized enterprise*”) were used. The inclusion criteria were: publications in the period 2012 to present, documents such as articles, early access or review, peer-reviewed, English language, the categories business and management of the Web of Science database. Papers published before 2012, grey literature such as reports and non-academic research, and other languages than English were excluded. Additionally, an excel data sheet was produced consisting of key aspects related to the research aim. In the given case, these were: name of the author(s), year of publication, name of the journal, research aim/objectives, theoretical perspective/framework, method, main findings and type of SME studied. As in the 2012 study that formed the basis of this follow-up paper, we were interested in the KMPs studied, i.e. knowledge identification, knowledge creation, knowledge storage, knowledge dissemination, knowledge application, the KMP in general and including other aspects of the KMP.

Secondly, once all relevant issues had been specified, one of us accessed the Web of Science database on the 7th of July 2022 and looked for suitable articles. This search resulted in 355 articles. To make sure that all relevant articles on KM in SMEs were included [even though Web of Science covers the majority of leading publishers (journals), it does not cover all], we also did manual searches on certain leading KM journal sites such as Knowledge Management Research and Practice. These proceedings and a first round of quality assessment resulted in a set of 292 articles which were used for the next step.

Steps three and four were dedicated to quality assessment and data extraction. More precisely, the 263 papers were divided among the three of us; thus, each of us read about 88 papers. Subsequently, we all entered the relevant data in the excel sheet. Then we all jointly went through each data entry and discussed the content. In the case of possible reservations on the part of us who had not read the paper, we all went through the paper in question. This approach helped to reduce the danger that the analysis and, thus, the conclusion drawn might not be consistent. This consultation round led to a further reduction of the number of suitable papers, as we excluded papers that did not have KM as their main focus but other concepts such as intellectual capital, innovation management or learning; thus, papers where KM was of secondary priority only. Fifthly, in the final excel sheet containing 180 papers, the extracted information of each paper was synthesised into KMPs/topics/themes. As stated by Tranfield et al. (2003) , the ability to synthesise the findings of numerous studies in a coherent manner is crucial for attaining a higher abstraction level and improving the generalisability of research. Thus, following the approach used in the (2012) study that forms the very basis for this follow-up paper, 59 papers were assigned to the KMPs that were studied. While the data of the remaining (unassigned) papers was analysed using the underlying notion of affinity diagram to identify new themes. This was achieved by synthesising the data to uncover similarities, which were then jointly discussed. Affinity diagrams have been considered useful for aggregating findings across multiple studies ( McLean and Antony, 2014 ; Psomas, 2021 ). The discussion was about going through the similarities and defining the KM themes together including the reconsideration under what theme each paper covered in the review should be assigned. It was also used to align the findings on the category of SME studied in the papers included in the Review. The final stage of the review process was devoted to writing up the findings.

4. Presentation of findings

Regarding the presentation of results, which were based on different quantitative and qualitative analyses and techniques, we start with general results and then move on to the more specific results.

4.1 General observations

The findings suggest that the interest in the study of KM in SMEs has further increased. Of the 180 papers in this review, 53 papers were published in 2016 or earlier, while 127 papers were published in 2017 or later. As far as individual years are concerned, the largest number of papers were published in 2021, with 35 articles in all.

The 180 papers were published in a variety of international peer-reviewed journals. The largest number of papers covered in the review were published in the leading KM journals ( Serenko, 2021 ), that is, 42 articles in the Journal of Knowledge Management , 20 articles in Knowledge Management Research and Practice and 11 articles in the VINE Journal of Information and Knowledge Management Systems.

4.2 Methodology

As mentioned in the introduction, Durst and Edvardsson (2012) called, based on their analysis, for more longitudinal studies, the utilisation of mixed methods approaches, country comparisons and research designs that take a realistic lens, i.e. to study KM from a small firm perspective. In the present review, 12 papers reported the conduct of cross-national research ( Alonso et al. , 2019 ; Audretsch and Belitski, 2021 ; Durst and Evangelista, 2018 ; Scuotto et al. , 2020 ; Vatamanescu et al. , 2020 ; Villar et al. , 2014 ), two articles used longitudinal panel data ( Fotso, 2021 ; Zhou et al. , 2021 ), one used longitudinal survey data ( Garcia-Cabrera et al. , 2017 ), while six articles reported the application of mixed methods approaches ( Crupi, 2020 ; Hermawati and Gunawan, 2021 ; Marques et al. , 2020 ; Miklosik et al. , 2019 ; Thrassou et al. , 2020 ; Väyrynen et al. , 2017 ).

Table 1 summarises the research methods used in the papers. Quantitative approaches are the dominant ones in the period covered. As it is shown in the table, 57% of the papers based the studies on a survey research design which was then usually conducted using a questionnaire. The far most used statistical analytical technique was structural equation modelling; partial least square analysis in particular. Next popular research methods are different types of case studies and then interview studies. Thematic analysis, the analysis of single cases and between cases, are quite common methods in those papers that were based on qualitative research approaches. Among other research methods used in the papers were action research, laboratory experiments, webpage analysis, story analysis and workshops.

4.3 Types of small- and medium-sized enterprises studied

In the 2012 paper, Durst and Edvardsson stressed, as other researchers did before, that the heterogeneity found among SMEs should be taken into consideration; thus, in this follow-up study, we were interested whether researchers have responded to this call and, if yes, how. Figure 1 synthesises the findings regarding the types of SMEs studied in the papers reviewed.

Figure 1 shows that the vast majority of the studies examined seem to consider SMEs as a generic entity. The same applies to the studies that examined different SME categories, e.g. small- and medium-sized enterprises. Even though there are a few articles that would mention the issue of heterogeneity in the background to their study and may also control for size, the researchers tend to forget that when analysing their results considering the KM phenomenon of interest. We found only one article, the one by Pérez-Pérez et al. (2019) , who studied how family firms pursue different strategies aimed at promoting strategic flexibility and knowledge-management practice to respond to strategic renewal goals and who considered the heterogeneity found among family firms throughout their study.

When individual categories of SMEs are examined, the focus is on small enterprises, which is understandable as they make up a large number of enterprises. In Europe, for example, small firms represent typically independent companies ( Eurostat, 2022 ) and in addition, it can be assumed that these enterprises also have at least rudimentary company structures that make more complex projects possible.

4.4 Countries in which knowledge management in small- and medium-sized enterprises research is conducted

Regarding the countries involved in the papers covered in this review, there was no information available in 15 papers, while four were theoretical papers and eight represented literature reviews. Regarding the remaining papers, it is evident that KM in SMEs is a topic that has been researched around the world. Figure 2 highlights the findings according to regions of the world. The study of KM in SMEs is still strongly influenced by studies conducted in European countries. One also sees that research on KM in SMEs has started in Africa as well; no studies from this continent were identified in the 2012 paper. Compared to the other regions in the world, the findings indicate that research on KM in SMEs in the Americas (i.e. North and South America) appears to be of lower interest.

4.5 Knowledge management topics and themes studied

In the 2012 paper, Durst and Edvardsson presented the findings by referring to different KMPs. The authors found that the processes of KM implementation, KM perception and knowledge transfer had been studied quite extensively while at that time, research on knowledge identification, knowledge storage/retention and knowledge utilisation was underdeveloped. In the following, we will show what happened since then with regard to the KMPs/topics/themes of interest. We will start with the processes that were used in the 2012 papers before turning to the new topics/themes/processes.

4.5.1 Research on knowledge management perception.

In the 2012 paper, nine papers were assigned to KM perception, which refers to the awareness of the benefits of KM for organisations, which, in turn, may favour the implementation of KM. In the follow-up review, we found one paper, namely, the paper by Gardan et al. (2018) (see Table 2 ), who studied the perceptions and opinions of Romanian SME managers on the importance of intellectual capital and the application of KM principles to competitive advantages. Not surprising, in an SME context, their study found a positive link between the manager’s level of education and the implementation of KM.

The decrease in the number of papers suggests that the advantages of KM for companies have been recognised in the meantime and that research has, therefore, switched to other KM-related topics.

4.5.2 Research on knowledge identification.

No papers have been identified that had a dedicated focus on knowledge identification suggesting that KM has become more mature over the years, and a stronger focus has been put on how to make use of existing and upcoming knowledge.

4.5.3 Research on knowledge acquisition/creation.

In the 2012 review, five papers were identified that dealt with knowledge creation/acquisition, and one paper that dealt with knowledge creation/acquisition, transfer and utilisation. In the present review, there were 24 papers (see Table 3 ). According, to the reviewed papers, knowledge creation/acquisition have a direct link with increased (open) innovation activities in SMEs ( Alshanty and Emeagwali, 2019 ; Alshanty et al. , 2019 ; Azyabi, 2021 ; Dabic et al. , 2020 ; Dost et al. , 2019 ; Fan et al. , 2017 ; Liao and Barnes, 2015 ; Martinez-Costa et al. , 2019 ; Wahyono, 2020 ) and to sense and respond to changing customer needs ( Ngo and Vu, 2020 ). Knowledge creation, distribution and utilisation, together with risk-taking, can also reduce negative innovative outcomes in SMEs ( Games and Rendi, 2019 ). Zhou et al. (2021 , p. 21) write in this connection, that the findings “clearly support the conclusion that both external knowledge acquisition and internal knowledge-sharing practices contribute positively but indirectly to SME innovation performance by enhancing the firm’s innovation orientation.” The knowledge creation process is also related to better rganizational performance ( Luhn et al. , 2017 ), such as export performance ( Boateng et al. , 2020 , 2021 ). Access to different external sources is also material for small firms “knowledge creation activities ( Durst et al. , 2013 ), while Alonso et al. (2019) identified the importance of self-efficacy, shown by entrepreneurs” determination and self-motivation for knowledge acquisition. According to Maldonado-Guzman et al. (2016) , KM can increase the intellectual properties of SMEs, while Al-Tal and Emeagwali (2019) argue that knowledge-based human resource management (HRM) increases intellectual capital, as well as process and product innovation. Finally, knowledge creation and distribution can mediate the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and the e-commerce adoption of SMEs ( Nasution et al. , 2021 ). Harris et al. (2013) stressed that the more innovative SMEs are more likely to source external knowledge using a variety of methods, which, in turn, requires that these firms also have higher levels of absorptive capacity. By using Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) model of dynamic knowledge creation, Feller et al. (2013) did a study aimed at promoting improved collaborative R&D processes, i.e. joined knowledge accumulation in (inter-)organisational settings. Senivongse et al. (2019) showed in their study the role of absorptive capacity on knowledge creation, specifically in environments that require rapid changes and propose to view absorptive capacity as a sole capability in turbulent markets. Grimsdottir et al. (2019) focused on knowledge creation/acquisition in knowledge-intensive SMEs. Their findings show that practical problems usually initiate new ideas and knowledge. Moreover, teamwork, formal and informal meetings, as well as brainstorming, are used in the knowledge-creating process. Little emphasis was on formal structures and strategies in the studied companies.

4.5.4 Research on knowledge transfer.

In the 2012 review, there were six papers dealing with knowledge sharing/transfer. There is a rising interest in this topic in recent years, as 23 papers were found on knowledge transfer in the follow-up review (see Table 4 ). Knowledge sharing/transfer seems to have a positive impact on the efficiency and innovativeness of the SMEs’ working behaviour and methods ( Anser et al. , 2020 ; Hosseini et al. , 2021 ; Kambey et al. , 2018 ; Oh and Kim, 2021 ; Paoloni and Modaffari, 2021 ; Soto-Acosta et al. , 2014a , 2014b ; Vatamanescu et al. , 2020 ; Yao et al. , 2020 ). Knowledge spillover has a positive effect on young SMEs’ export potential ( Garcia-Cabrera et al. , 2017 ) and can be supported by dedicated innovation policies aimed at promoting science-industry collaboration ( Fotso, 2021 ) while sharing knowledge on customers and marketing with firms in similar markets can enhance the internationalisation of firms ( Magni et al. , 2021 ). Hatak and Roessl (2015) found a strong relationship between knowledge transfer and intra-family succession. Similarly, Letonja and Duh (2016) argue that tacit knowledge sharing by a business founder to a successor is important for continued innovativeness, but knowledge originating from outside the family business is also needed. In another study involving family firms, Kuruppuge et al. (2018) stressed the impact of age, level of education and job orientation on knowledge sharing intentions of employees.

Curado and Vieira (2019) and Yasir and Majid (2017) found out that trust affected knowledge sharing and organisational commitment in a positive way. Al-Jabri and Al-Busaidi (2018) stress trust and risk are the core of inter-organisational transfer. Cultural differences and divergent management practices can, however, create mistrust and hinder knowledge sharing between firms in different parts of the world ( Korbi and Chouki, 2017 ). Cyril Eze et al. (2013) established that knowledge technology, motivation, effective reward systems, trust and empowering leadership represent critical factors to explain different attitudes towards knowledge sharing in Malaysian SMEs.

Harrington et al. (2019) proposed a methodology to improve knowledge mobility in supply network configurations. Soto-Acosta et al. (2017) highlighted that the existence of technological and organisational factors are key drivers of social web knowledge sharing and Gaviria-Marin and Cruz-Cazares (2020) who focused on the diversity of knowledge/information provided by online business information providers offered a better understanding of what kind of knowledge/information is relevant for SMEs and thus should be disseminated.

4.5.5 Research on knowledge storage/retention.

In 2012, only one paper was identified that focused on knowledge storage/retention. In the period 2012–2022, it was still the same, research on knowledge storage/retention remained underdeveloped. We identified two articles that could be assigned to this category (see Table 5 ). Firstly, the paper by Jayawickrama et al. (2019) studied both knowledge retention approaches for different types of knowledge and the factors that influence knowledge retention using a sample of SMEs in the UK industries. And secondly, the study by Whyte and Classen (2012) investigated the usefulness of storytelling to elicit knowledge from retiring experts.

4.5.6 Research on knowledge management implementation/adoption.

In 2012, eight papers were found on KM implementation and five papers were found in the present review (see Table 6 ). Shrafat’s (2018) study confirmed the influential role of KM capabilities, knowledge sharing, organisational culture and IT capability on the adoption of KM systems in SMEs. Durst and Evangelista (2018) found out that third-party logistics service providers are not sufficiently realising the full potential of KM. Based on the findings, it was concluded that the logistics sector is still reluctant regarding the implementation of more sophisticated KM systems and tools and called for taking a strategic approach to KM. Zieba et al. (2016) showed that there were no formal KM plans in the SMEs studied, although they have implemented various KM practices. Nupap et al. (2016) presented and tested a sophisticated KM system based on business process reengineering, enterprise resource planning (ERP), new product development and joint application development concepts. They concluded by noting that such an advanced KM system is promising for SMEs. Mageswari et al. (2017) underlined the positive and significant role organisational culture, leadership and management play in KM adoption in Indian manufacturing companies.

4.5.7 Research on knowledge utilisation.

Research on knowledge utilisation seems to be neglected in the 2012 review, as only two papers were found on the subject. In the present review, four papers deal with knowledge utilisation/application (see Table 7 ).

Heredia-Calzado and Duréndez (2019) found out that professionalism and KM increase the use of ERP systems, which, in turn, increase their competitive advantages. Wang et al. (2021) studied how knowledge is used in medium-sized Chinese companies. Alonso et al. (2021) point out that micro firms make use of knowledge to enhance their potential, which can lead to increased competitiveness and general performance. Finally, Scuotto et al. (2017a , 2017b) argue that increasing the quality and magnitude of internal KM mechanisms enhances the possibility to explore and use external knowledge.

4.6 New processes/themes/topics researched

The follow-up study also revealed several new research directions researchers have started to advance our understanding of KM in SMEs; they are presented in the following.

4.6.1 Research on knowledge risks.

A new direction that has been started recently seems to be the study of risks related to knowledge. More precisely, we identified nine papers that addressed possible downsides of knowledge in SMEs (see Table 8 ).

Three papers addressed knowledge risks. Temel and Durst (2021) identified and discussed knowledge risks associated with emerging technological innovations, and based on that, proposed some countermeasures SMEs may apply to cope with these risks. Durst and Wilhelm (2013) developed a tool SMEs could apply to determine their knowledge at risk. Based on a review of the discussions in both studies that regard knowledge hiding as a form of knowledge risk, Scuotto et al. ’s (2022) paper nicely fits this theme. Specifically, the authors examined whether factors associated with transformational leadership, such as trust, collaboration and employee involvement, could influence a person’s tendency to hide knowledge.

Two papers studied knowledge leakage. Durst and Ferenhof (2014) proposed a framework that lists different areas where knowledge leakage could occur and how to reduce the risk exposure. While Arias-Perez et al. (2020) showed in their study that knowledge leakage has a negative moderating effect on the relationship between absorptive capability and co-innovation.

Knowledge loss was studied in three papers. Durst and Wilhelm (2012) investigated how a medium-sized company deals with the danger of knowledge loss due to retirements or longer-term absences. Joe et al. (2013) studied older experts leaving knowledge-intensive firms. According to these authors, different types of knowledge tend to be lost, which are subject matter expertise; knowledge about business relationships and social networks; organisational knowledge and institutional memory; knowledge of business systems, processes and value chains; and knowledge of governance. Zieba (2017) , in her paper, proposed the concept of knowledge safety which is perceived in the studied SMEs from a technical and a human perspective.

Barboza and Capocchi (2020) dealt with knowledge spillover. More precisely, the authors studied the impact of knowledge spillover on employment levels using a sample of Italian startups. The role of time and regional specialisation has been highlighted in their study.

4.6.2 Knowledge management tools and practices.

No papers were found in the 2012 review dealing particularly with KM tools and practices. In the present review, 17 papers deal with KM tools and practices (see Table 9 ). Regarding KM practices related to KM tools, Centobelli et al. (2017) noticed three different patterns among SMEs. Firstly, some firms are using already known tools and practices; secondly, some SMEs adopt specialist practices of KM, and finally, there are a group of firms that invest in new technology and KM practices. While Centobelli et al. (2018) propose a taxonomy aimed at bringing together various types of behaviour associated with how a small firm’s knowledge is related to the selection of KM systems. According to the authors, there are guideposts, practice laggards, tool laggards or latecomers.

Valentim et al. (2016) aimed at identifying and categorising KM practices SMEs can adopt to develop absorptive capacity. They showed the influence of both company size and sector on the relationship between KM practices and absorptive capacities. Hume and Hume (2016) researched the practice of KM not-for-profit SMEs in Australia and found, among others, the relevance of socialisation for KM success. Cerchione and Esposito (2017) found out that SMEs prefer traditional practices, such as problem-solving, teamwork and learning by doing rather than special KM practices, such as communities of practice, knowledge mapping and data mining. Väyrynen et al. (2017) compared KM practices used in small, medium and large companies and their impact on open innovation. The findings highlight that company size is key to supporting open innovation in different companies. Granados et al. (2017) provided insights into KM practices in small social enterprises in the UK. They found that the SMEs are primarily into knowledge acquisition and not into the conversion, application and protection of knowledge. Valdez-Juárez et al. (2018) tried to find out whether the adoption of explicit practices of internal and external KM has an effective impact on innovation practices in SMEs from Colombia and Mexico. Kianto et al. (2018) showed how KM is practised in Finnish logistics SMEs, and the study revealed that the firms involved lack a strategic approach to KM, which may impact the firms’ long-term developments. García-Piqueres et al. (2019) showed in their study the link between KM practices and innovation outcomes. They further demonstrated the moderating influence of proactiveness and risk-taking on the before-mentioned relationship.

Marques et al. (2020) found, however, a good match between KM-tool and their practices in SMEs. Bolisani and Scarso (2016) argue that good management support, employee motivation and clear goals are necessary for the successful use of wiki technology in SMEs, whereas Crammond et al. (2018) argue that costs regarding specialist personnel and restructuring can be a challenge regarding using social media in SMEs. Cocca et al. (2021) introduce IT-based tools to support KM systems in SMEs. Alvarez et al. (2016) found out that larger firms use more IT tools to support KM, while smaller firms used collaborative tools more for knowledge sharing. The impact of Industry 4.0 and information and communication technology (ICT) on knowledge was the focus of the research of Bettiol et al. (2021) . Sytnik and Kravchenko (2021) studied KM practices and tools in different types of Ukrainian organisations and determined the main differences between small, medium and large companies in the areas of KM policies, the intensity of KM tools application and the scope of application regarding more sophisticated KM tools.

4.6.3 Research on knowledge management enablers and barriers.

The 19 papers that were assigned to this theme identified KM enablers such as internal collaboration, trust, culture, SME and social networks, transformational leadership, organisational learning, social capital, information technology (IT)/information system (IS), entrepreneurial orientation and governmental support ( Gresty, 2013 ; Gu et al. , 2021 ; Mazzucchelli et al. , 2021 ; Raymond et al. , 2016 ; Thomas et al. , 2017 ; Scuotto et al. , 2017a , 2017b ) or as Horvat et al. (2016) put it, personal and technical factors (see Table 10 ). Law and Chan (2017) identified different types of managerial interventions, i.e. initiating intervention, reinforcing intervention and aligning intervention, which seem to be useful to promote KM activities among employees. By focusing on the usefulness of communities of practices (CoPs) in science-based SMEs, Pattinson and Preece (2014) identified three types of CoPs: apprentice-based CoPs that support individual learning; intra-organisational CoPs that facilitate internal knowledge sharing; and inter-organisational CoPs that emerge between SMEs and external organisations.

The role of dynamic learning and knowledge capabilities for continued development in SMEs was shown in the study by García et al. (2018) . Managerial learning was found relevant for knowledge generation and knowledge absorption by Roxas et al. (2014) . While Valaei et al. (2017) found that organisational structure and technology utilisation is key for KM activities in an SME setting. Martinez-Martinez et al. (2021) stressed the meaning of a well-socialised environment as a means for better using knowledge in small knowledge-intensive businesses.

Talking about different KM enablers and their impact, Narayanan et al. (2020) ’s study showed that internal collaboration and IT support have a positive influence on the KMP; transformational leadership has a negative influence on KMP; KMP has a positive influence on non-financial performance; and innovation speed is a mediator between KMP and non-financial performance. The study by Mota Veiga et al. (2021) assessed KMPs using a two-parallel approach, i.e. private and public KM. They found that private KM influences knowledge transfer and creation, as well as innovation, whereas public KM predicts knowledge creation. Wee and Chua (2013) concluded, based on their study, that KM rested largely on the owner’s innovativeness, creativity and ability to acquire knowledge. Knowledge sharing requires the awareness of roles, mutual respect and trust, while knowledge reuse is fostered by the close proximity of employees, willingness and openness. The lack of the above enablement factors mentioned will hinder these KMPs. Jordao and Novas (2017) stressed the effects of SMEs networks both on KM and intellectual capital and proposed a theoretical-conceptual model supporting the analysis of these effects. Thrassou et al. (2020) highlighted the relevance of the coexistence of internal resources and external knowledge and information acquisition processes (here through network ties) for successful KM in SMEs. In a recent paper, Rao et al. (2022) propose a list of critical success factors of KM in SMEs, which are management leadership and support, culture, strategy (including IT and HRM) and measurement.

4.6.4 Research on knowledge management measurement and performance.

An increasing number of papers have also started to investigate how to measure KM efforts in SMEs or how KM contributes to different types of company performance in these firms, thus showing the material benefit of investing in KM. In total, 29 papers were assigned to this topic (see Table 11 ).

As regard KM measurement, Coyte et al. (2012) examined processes used in SMEs to control the management of their knowledge resources. Liu and Abdalla (2013) offered an evaluation model to assess both KM performance and KM effectiveness which the authors named KM implementation. Lee and Wong (2015a ) developed and tested a measurement tool to evaluate KM in SMEs. The same authors (2015 b) found out that KM did improve firm performance, but there are differences between firm sizes and KM maturity in companies. Wang and Yang (2016) proposed a model to show the success of KM adoption in SMEs. Wibowo and Grandhi (2017) proposed a fuzzy multicriteria group decision-making approach for measuring and benchmarking KM practices.

Kmieciak and Michna (2018) showed the link between KM orientation and innovativeness in Polish SMEs. Santoro et al. (2019) examined the impact of KM orientation, and the use of dynamic capabilities as a mediating factor, on ambidextrous entrepreneurial intensity (EI) and firm performance. It was found that KM orientation has a positive impact on ambidextrous EI and firm performance under conditions of high dynamic capability. Similar results were found in studies conducted by Dezi et al. (2021) and Ferraris et al. (2019) on ambidexterity and KM orientation with respect to performance. Dezi et al. (2021) found out that external embeddedness and KM did increase ambidexterity (exploitation and exploration of knowledge) in SMEs, leading to better general performance. Ferraris et al. (2019) did look at big data analytical capabilities and found out that combined with KM orientation, and it increased firm performance.

The positive link between KM in SMEs and performance has been established in several papers. Delen et al. (2013) studied the impact of KM practices on the organisational (financial and non-financial) performance of Turkish SMEs. Knowledge utilisation has been found to influence both financial and non-financial performance. Organisational culture and structure impact the different types of performance too. The study by Alegre et al. (2013) showed that KM practice can enhance sustained competitive advantages in innovation performance, but it does so indirectly through the creation of KM dynamic capabilities. Schoenherr et al. (2014) drew on the knowledge-based view theory to establish a positive relationship between explicit and tacit knowledge, and supply chain performance.

Byukusenge and Munene (2017) showed that innovation fully mediates the relationship between KM (i.e. knowledge acquisition, knowledge sharing and knowledge application) and the business performance of SMEs in Rwanda. Azyabi (2018) showed the positive impact of both KMPs and capabilities on SME performance in Saudi Arabia. Albassami et al. (2019) studied the role of KM on the performance of SMEs from Pakistan and found that KM is a vital element to improve performance through organisational innovations. Obeso et al. (2020) investigated the impact of three KMPs, i.e. knowledge generation, knowledge storage and knowledge flow, on firm performance. The authors’ findings underline that each KMP has a different influence on performance; they also showed the mediating role of organisational learning in these relationships. Similarly, among biotechnology SMEs based in the Netherlands, Bloem and Salimi (2022) analysed the role of different KMPs (i.e. knowledge acquisition, conversion, application and protection) play in each phase of innovation. While Hassan and Raziq (2019) demonstrated in their study the positive impact of KMPs (i.e. knowledge acquisition, knowledge dissemination and responsiveness to knowledge) on radical innovation in SMEs.

Audretsch and Belitski (2021) , on the other hand, aimed to study the link between domains of knowledge complexity (i.e. managerial, strategic and operational) and firm performance and what role organisational resilience takes in this relationship. Resilience and agility appear to be important for SMEs to leverage the effect of knowledge complexity on performance. Focusing on SMEs from Iraq, Kareem et al. (2021) demonstrated the role of accounting information systems, KM capabilities and innovation in the organisational performance of these firms.

Chaithanapat et al. (2022) empirically studied the interplay between customer KM (CKM), knowledge-oriented leadership (KOL), innovation quality and firm performance. Specifically, their main findings suggested that innovation quality plays a positive mediation role in the relationship between CKM and firm performance.

Yusr et al. (2021) empirically tested the relationship between CKM and product innovation performance. They found no statistical support for this relationship which underlines that companies need to be able to apply the existing knowledge (here customer knowledge) too. Focusing on innovation performance too, Ul Zia (2020) examined the relationship between KOL, KM behaviour and innovation performance in project-based SMEs and underlined, among others, the stronger relevance of KOL for KM in SMEs than in larger companies. Additionally, a mediating role of KM behaviour in the relationship between KOL and project-based innovation performance was found. With the same focus on innovation performance, Ferraris et al. (2021) analysed R&D internationalisation in SMEs and found that internationalisation combined with KM orientation, did increase innovative performance. While Scuotto et al. (2020) , relying on upgrading and downgrading strategies, examined how SMEs’ KM peculiarities maximise innovation performance.

Based on the mediation-moderation analysis, Khraishi et al. (2022) demonstrated that absorptive capacity and internal knowledge creation capacity influence offshoring innovation performance, while absorptive capacity mediates the relationship between internal knowledge creation and offshoring innovation performance. Further, their findings indicate that formal knowledge sharing routines moderate the relationship between absorptive capacity and offshoring innovation performance.

Fischer et al. (2021) examined the moderating effect of strategic KM competencies on knowledge-intensive entrepreneurial performance by examining the impact of entrepreneurial ecosystems and technical expertise. While Permatasari et al. (2022) , in an understudied context of the weaving craft industry, found that higher traditional knowledge-based capabilities lead to better sustainable business performance.

4.6.5 Research on knowledge management from a strategic point of view.

We identified 12 articles that investigated KM in SMEs from a strategic point of view (see Table 12 ). Bagnoli and Vedovato (2014) argue that there is a match between KM and strategies. Hence, most SMEs with prospector and defender strategies favour aggressive and conservative KM. Hu et al. (2019) stress that a clear KM strategy is needed at the beginning of projects, while Bolisani et al. (2016) found out that an emergent approach for managing knowledge referring to clients seems to be more suited for SMEs than a planned (deliberate) one. Wilhelm et al. (2013) argue for a strategic approach to valuable customer knowledge as a basis for improved collaboration with this group of stakeholders. Diehr and Wilhelm (2017) underline the significance of collaborating with strategic customers and taking advantage of various forms of knowledge utilisation to have a competitive edge.

Miklosik et al. (2019) studied how Australian companies of different sizes communicate about their KM activities. Not surprising, company size matters and SMEs tend not to disclose information about knowledge generation, knowledge sharing or KM in resources that are accessible online. Jutidharabongse et al. (2020) were interested in the relationships in the causal influences of different capabilities, such as cognitive capability, absorptive capability, dynamic KM capability and strategic intuition capability using a sample of SMEs from Thailand. Hayaeian et al. (2022) stressed based on their findings, the benefit of aligning intellectual capital (IC) with KM strategies to make possible ideal combinations and access high innovation in dynamic market environments. Pérez-Pérez et al. (2019) identified in their study of family firms three distinctive clusters, namely, proactive family firms, transitional or adaptive family firms and rigid family firms, which are useful for developing a better understanding of the firms’ strategies towards promoting KM and strategic flexibility. Taghizadeh et al. (2021a ) assessed the effect of organisational antecedents on KMC and then, in the next step, tested the influence of KM capability on innovation strategy using a sample from Malaysian SMEs. The need for SMEs to adopt new strategies, structures, processes, etc., quickly and continuously is highlighted.

Petrov et al. (2020) underlined that in addition to marketing and human resource management strategy presented the three pillars to determine KM in SMEs in transition economies, while O’Connor and Kelly (2017) stress the importance of using explicit and tacit knowledge for improved decision-making.

4.6.6 Research on capabilities.

The review also covered ten papers that addressed the role of certain capabilities for KM (see Table 13 ). Villar et al. (2014) showed that the existence of KM dynamic capabilities is important for SMEs to achieve better results in terms of export intensity. Thus, the positive effects of the adoption of KM practices depend on the existence and management of dynamic capabilities in SMEs. Martins (2016) tried to identify and examine relational capabilities relevant for fostering new knowledge creation as perceived as relevant by managing directors of small firms located in the UK and Portugal. Roxas and Chadee (2016) showed the supporting role of relational capital found with SMEs in the Philippines for the firms’ innovation capabilities, yet, to realise this potential, the firms must exercise a proactive KM orientation. While Grandinetti (2016) proposed a model of absorptive capacity for SMEs to support the analysis of the role of relationships in these firms’ KMPs.

Hussain et al. (2019) examined the impact of different KMPs on innovation capacities. The study findings demonstrated the benefits of having effective KM systems in SMEs. Taghizadeh et al. (2021b ) explained how technological capability contributes to enhanced performance in SMEs. Hock-Doepgen et al. (2021) examined the influence of internal and external KM capabilities on business model innovation (BMI) in SMEs and how these effects are moderated by its risk-taking tolerance. Among others, the study underlines that SMEs should emphasise the development of abilities to acquire, convert and apply knowledge for successful BMI. With particular attention paid to KM capabilities, Martinez-Conesa et al. (2017) found that KM capacities mediate the relationship between ICT-supported operations, interdepartmental connectiveness, commitment-based human resources and open innovation. Hermawati and Gunawan (2021) investigated how SMEs exploit dynamic capabilities and knowledge in a changing environment. Based on the findings, the authors conclude that SMEs need to adjust to external adjustment by creating knowledge via learning which means, in turn, that learning is a vital element in all dynamic capability processes. Bamel and Bamel (2018) examined the mediating role that KM capability plays in the relationship between organisational resources and strategic flexibility. The authors conclude that KM capability mediates the relationship to some extent.

4.6.7 Knowledge management in general.

In addition to the above-mentioned, we also found 11 papers that addressed different aspects or processes of KM in their studies (see Table 14 ). Martins and Sole (2013) revealed in their study what a proper KMP should dispose of so that SMEs could set up a cluster, while Bell and Cooper (2018) studied how knowledge is acquired, assimilated and exploited in SMEs internationalisation. Chawinga and Chipeta (2017) show that KM and competitive intelligence contribute to the competitive advantages of SMEs. Chong et al. (2014) found that KMPs such as knowledge acquisition and knowledge application are key aspects in the decision-making of Malaysian SMEs regarding whether or not to adopt e-business in their supply chain. Costa and Monteiro (2016) investigated the mutual influences of different KMPs on organisational innovation in SMEs. Giampaoli et al. (2021) stress that KM and intellectual capital in SMEs have an impact on firms’ ability to innovate. Esposito and Evangelista (2016) did look at KM in SME networks and found out that “advanced KM systems can be used to manage knowledge more effectively at network level” (p. 204). In addition, it was noted that platforms facilitate knowledge exchange within the network, resulting in a positive effect on innovation processes. Perez-Soltero et al. (2016) proposed a methodology addressing organisational memory so that SMEs can better benefit from team knowledge and, in turn, have more efficient processes. Quijano-Garcia et al. (2017) investigated how different KMPs are applied in SMEs operating in the tourism sector. Polas et al. (2021) showed that KMPs such as knowledge acquisition, knowledge dissemination and knowledge responsiveness have a positive impact on the adoption of green innovation in SMEs. Wang and Wang (2020) highlighted what would be needed in SMEs to improve their KM to better handle big data.

4.6.8 Literature reviews on knowledge management in small- and medium-sized enterprises.

This follow-up study also covered eight literature review papers (see Table 15 ). The review by Durst and Edvardsson (2012) , which represents the initial situation of this follow-up review, analysed 36 empirical papers. Cerchione et al. (2016) studied 94 articles to determine the then state-of-the-art on KM in SMEs, i.e. KM in SME networks in particular. Costa et al. (2016) did a systematic review of the existing literature to examine the role of information, knowledge and collaboration in the internationalisation decisions of SMEs. Thirty-eight articles were analysed in the review. Massaro et al. (2016) review consisted of 89 articles to determine the state of research regarding the study of KM in SMEs. Cerchione et al. (2020) reviewed 129 papers to provide an analytical overview of the role of KM systems to support innovative forms of knowledge translation occurring in collaborative relationships. It has to be noted that this review covered both large and small companies. Chaithanapat and Rakthin (2021) reviewed 95 articles on CKM covering all types of organisations to argue for the relevance of CKM in SMEs as well. Anand et al. (2021) did a literature review on knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer in SMEs involving 38 papers. Finally, Saratchandra and Shrestha (2022) conducted a systematic literature review that examined 157 papers (133 articles and 24 conference papers) to determine the role of cloud computing in KM for SMEs.

4.6.9 Miscellaneous.

Six papers were assigned to this category (see Table 16 ). Bocquet and Mothe (2015) investigated how governance structures could support two types of ambidexterity in French SME clusters by the means of KM. Calvo-Mora et al. (2016) relate the European foundation for quality management-model with KM and found out that process methodology has more impact on KM in SMEs, while partner management is more important in larger firms. Valaei (2017) , on the other hand, discusses the concept of knowledge quality, defined as the usefulness and innovativeness of acquired knowledge, for promoting competitiveness in SMEs. The role of KM in facilitating open innovation has been shown in the study by Kim and Ahn (2020) , while Crupi et al. (2020) showed how European digital innovation hubs could take the role of knowledge brokers to support digital transformation in SMEs. Finally, Scuotto et al. (2021) showed the relevance of developing dynamic capabilities for improving marketing KM.

5. Bringing all together now

Based on the findings presented above, it can be concluded that our understanding of KM in SMEs has been further advanced since Durst and Edvardsson’s, 2012 review. When both reviews are brought together, it becomes clear that research on KM in SMEs has not only increased in the number of publications, but it has also deepened the majority of topics identified in the 2012 paper and also addressed several new ones. It can, therefore, be concluded that the KM in SMEs research has “learned to walk”, and thus, McAdam and Read’s 2001 prophecy regarding the SMEs also adopting KM has come true.

The increase in the number of publications can also be easily understood by comparing the number of reviews published in the past, as mentioned in the section “Literature reviews on KM in SMEs”. Accordingly, it can also be concluded that the present literature review is the most comprehensive in the field of KM in SMEs to date.

By having a closer analysis of the two reviews, the following can be stated: Since 2012, there has been a decline in papers dealing with KM perception and identification, knowledge storage/retention and KM implementation. At the same time, there has been a growing number of papers published on knowledge creation and knowledge transfer, and a slight increase in papers dealing with knowledge utilisation. As expected, new themes have also emerged, such as the study of knowledge risks, KM tools and practices, KM enablers, KM measurement and performance, strategic aspects of KM or capabilities needed for KM in SMEs.

Within these research activities, it should be highlighted that several of the papers covered in the present paper demonstrate the positive role played by KM, on its own or combined with other aspects/activities, in improving different types of SME performance, which, in turn, can promote the firms’ further development and sustainability. Research on KM measurement and performance seems to have become the preferred field of study which is not surprising given the SME focus and the fact that active KM is time and resource-consuming (please refer to the section “Research on KM measurement and performance”).

What is also welcome is the increased appearance of papers addressing the strategic relevance of KM in SMEs, which provide insights into this essential aspect of purposeful KM (please refer to section “Research on KM from a strategic point of view”). The crucial need for KM strategies and having them incorporated into the overall companies’ strategies have been stressed in the existing KM literature for long ( Hansen et al. , 1999 ; Zack, 1999 ).

Additionally, the follow-up review has shown that research on KM in SMEs has spread throughout the world. Although Western countries still dominate the scene, the diversity of KM in SMEs research has grown, acknowledging that the cultural setting matters when it comes to KM in organisations ( Khan and Khan, 2015 ). The follow-up review, however, also underlines that research on KM in SMEs is still based on studying a single region or country. Cross-country comparisons are still rare. The situation is very similar when it comes to the conduct of longitudinal studies, the utilisation of mixed methods approaches or the perception of SMEs; as regard, the latter, published research leaves the impression that SMEs are still considered as one generic entity.

To take the next step and thus to come closer to our aim to provide a comprehensive review of the existing research on KM in SMEs, we decided to synthesise the findings of both reviews, i.e. the one from 2012 and the present one and based on that develop and propose a list of promising research directions and research questions ( Table 17 ).

The research directions mentioned in the table would benefit from research teams involving scholars from different countries/different parts of the world and at different stages of their development to increase the likelihood that new (different) ways of thinking are incorporated but also to make sure that these teams learn about the similarities and differences of KM in SMEs (in different types of SMEs) in their respective countries/regions so that active knowledge utilisation is practised which is ideally turned into something more impactful for both theory and managerial practice.

6. Conclusions

6.1 contributions and implications.

In a world that has become even more fragile, the efficient management of information and knowledge should be one of the main activities of SMEs to increase the likelihood of being better prepared for coping with present and upcoming challenges (referring to both internal and external challenges). This paper presents a follow-up review on KM in SMEs of the review paper published by Durst and Edvardsson in the year 2012.

The follow-up review, through the analysis of 180 articles, structures insights from the current literature categorised by themes that address different aspects of KM and thus takes into account not only the variety but also the complexity of KM in SMEs. The presented paper is not limited to very limited areas of KM in SMEs research, as it has been the case with several reviews that have been published recently, such as Cerchione et al. (2016) , Costa et al. (2016) , Anand et al. (2021) or Saratchandra and Shrestha (2022) ; thus, the present review provides more holistic and recent insights into the diversity of the research field over a longer period (2012–2022).

By synthesising this review with the review published by Durst and Edvardsson in 2012, the study presented goes further; it identifies the determination of existing research on KM in SMEs as well as outlines the areas where research efforts have been made over time (i.e. the period 2001–2022). Research on KM in SMEs has increased in breadth and depth (old topics have been deepened, i.e. the ones identified by Durst and Edvardsson in their 2012 paper, and new ones have been added). Thus, the review produced is, in our view, not only the most comprehensive but also the most complete one on the subject of KM in SMEs. The structuring approach chosen makes it emphatically clear that KM research dedicated to SMEs is becoming more and more interesting for researchers, and thus, these companies are finally getting the attention they deserve. Given the role of SMEs in the majority of economies, this is welcome. Based on the results, we also propose several research directions and research questions for future research. These proposals have been summarised in Table 17 and represent the main theoretical contribution of this paper.

More precisely, we believe that the present paper makes a noteworthy contribution to the field of KM in general and KM in SMEs in particular by providing a thorough state-of-the-art overview of KM in SMEs research which should be relevant for researchers (early stage and established ones) who are interested in making a relevant contribution either theoretical, methodological or empirical in nature for the profound advancement of the research field.

As a theoretical implication, this review has identified emerging themes that, in our view, call for future SME KM studies to consider new theoretical approaches and conceptualisations. Taking the example of knowledge risks – one of the new topics – it becomes clear that future theory development should take into account the notion of “knowledge liability” as a means of viewing knowledge in a negative light. In this way, alternative theories would be available that contribute to the further development of the field as a whole and thus reduce the application of existing theories that view knowledge mainly as something positive; which can be problematic when studying knowledge risks due to possibly differing epistemological and ontological considerations.

The methodological approaches found in previous research show that studies in the field of KM in SMEs are largely positivist (quantitative) in nature. To enable a better balance and, thus, a better level of knowledge, future research should also strive to advance research in this area through theoretical, conceptual and qualitative contributions. Despite the fact that quantitative studies dominate, most are cross-sectional, while longitudinal studies remain rare. The development of a European (global) data set for KM in SMEs, as proposed in Table 17 , could allow longitudinal studies and thus provide valuable insights into KM in SMEs as it is practised over time. Additionally, it is important to emphasise that a longitudinal approach in this regard will help analyse the trend of KM initiatives of SMEs by providing a basis for validating most cross-sectional studies. Further, it will provide an opportunity to better understand the cause-and-effect relationships observed in existing research from a long-term perspective.

The findings presented should be useful to SME owners/managers, policymakers as well as other actors interested in deepening their understanding of KM in SMEs. SME owners/managers, for example, may create an increased awareness of the close link between KM and different types of performance. This can assist them in better handling the costs related to KM and, as a consequence, to better exploit the knowledge available. SMEs owners/managers may also learn from the paper that KM is relevant for all SMEs regardless of the category and thus can be successfully implemented even in very small companies. At the same time, the large number of KM topics shows that KM is very complex and that the individual activities are interlinked or that one KM measure can have an impact on others, which, in turn, emphasises the importance of an overarching KM strategy. Furthermore, the results should encourage SME decision-makers to also consider knowledge risks in their KM approach or to consider these risks more in their risk management approach; the studies conducted on this topic have pointed out possible consequences. A review such as this can also help SME owners/managers to (better) familiarise themselves with some existing KM practices and strategies, as well as provide insight into which ones are gaining traction and which ones are fading. Such insight would guide their decisions regarding where and how to channel financial and non-financial resources to maximise the benefits of KM.

The findings presented can also help policymakers all over the world develop policies that take a more holistic and comprehensive view of KM and its relevance for SMEs (different types of SMEs). These policies may be better prepared to support the continued business development of SMEs and can also help firms belonging to the “SME” category to become more resilient. Policymakers should seek to raise awareness of the concept of KM, including both the upsides and the downsides of knowledge, as an important element of promoting entrepreneurial activities. In view of the proposal to develop data sets to capture SMEs and the potential relevance of these for research, we also call on prominent institutions, agencies, commissions or intergovernmental organisations such as the European Commission and the United Nations to take this initiative. We expect that this will not only advance the field of research but also benefit SMEs for the development of national and regional economies and the world at large. Given the importance of SMEs for individual countries, Europe, etc., and the various measures that already exist to support SMEs at different levels, e.g. the European Union (EU) Entrepreneurship and SME Support Programme, it would only be logical to include the topic of KM. SME advisors might benefit from the findings presented as well as the areas addressed can give them some food for thought as to what types of services could be needed to support SME development. The results regarding the KM enablers and capabilities appear relevant in this regard.

6.2 Future research and limitations

Future scholars may use the content presented in Table 17 and the issues discussed in Section 5 to position their papers, detect research gaps and promising topics. It seems also useful to revisit the four general research areas proposed by Durst and Edvardsson in their 2012 paper: longitudinal studies, country comparisons, mixed methods approaches and a realistic lens. The follow-up review showed that not much progress happened in these four areas; thus, we are renewing the call from 2012 and invite researchers to incorporate these, in our view, important aspects when trying to advance research on KM in SMEs and research on KM in general.

To conduct more cross-national or comparable studies in the field, as mentioned above, it would be helpful to develop a data set that captures KM practices and processes and their implications and performance at regional, national, EU and global levels for SMEs. This initiative could, for example, be linked to the Community Innovation Survey, which is a relevant data source for the analysis of business innovation activities. Such a combined survey would be very welcome. Future research would also benefit from more participatory research approaches that bring researchers and SMEs together from the beginning to jointly design and conduct the research to ultimately increase the potential impact of the study.

As with any research, this paper has limitations. The review process chosen may not have allowed us to identify all relevant articles in the field of KM in SMEs. Additionally, this paper can only propose some research directions and research questions, and the field offers many more opportunities for research.

We, the authors, hope that research on KM in SMEs will continue in the next years and that researchers (new and established ones) take advantage of the understanding developed so far and build upon it accordingly.

Types of SMEs studied

Countries studied by region

Research methods used by scholars focusing on KM in SMEs

Papers dealing with knowledge perception

Papers dealing with knowledge creation/acquisition

Papers dealing with knowledge sharing/transfer in SMEs

Papers dealing with knowledge storage/retention

Papers dealing with knowledge implementation in SMEs

Papers dealing with knowledge utilisation in SMEs

Papers dealing with knowledge risk and related topics in SMEs

Papers dealing with knowledge management tools and practices in SMEs

Articles on knowledge enablers and barriers

Articles on knowledge measurement and performance

Articles on knowledge management strategies in SMEs

Articles on capabilities for knowledge management in SMEs

General papers on knowledge management in SMEs

Literature reviews on knowledge management in SMEs

Other articles on knowledge management in SMEs

Overview of research directions and research questions regarding KM in SMEs research

SEM = structural equation modeling

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Corresponding author

About the authors.

Susanne Durst is based at the Department of Business Administration, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia and Department of Business Administration, Reykjavik University, Reykjavik, Iceland

Ingi Runar Edvardsson is based at the School of Business, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

Samuel Foli is based at the Department of Business Administration, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia

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Does Digital Financial Inclusion Have an Impact on High-Quality Development of Trade? Evidence from China

• Published: 06 May 2024

Cite this article

• Feiyu Liu 1 ,
• Shiyue Yang 1 ,
• Yacheng Zhou 2 ,
• Weidong Huo 1 &
• Ling Zhu 1  

This paper selects China’s provincial panel data in 2016–2020, innovatively constructs a comprehensive evaluation index system for the level of high-quality development of trade, adopts the entropy method to determine the level of high-quality development of trade in each province, empirically examines the impact of digital financial inclusion on high-quality development of trade, and conducts a robustness test by the topsis method. The results show that (1) overall digital financial inclusion is conducive to promoting high-quality development of trade. (2) In all three dimensions, the depth of use and the degree of digitalization significantly and positively contribute to the high-quality development of trade, and the positive effect of the breadth of coverage is not obvious. (3) At the sub-regional level, there is heterogeneity in the role of digital financial inclusion, and the degree of digitalization in the central and western regions has not yet played a significant positive role compared to the eastern regions. Based on the above research, this paper argues that the policy support system should be further improved in general, the technical support for financial data centers should be promoted, the construction of risk management systems should be strengthened, the coverage of financial services and the level of inclusion should be enhanced, and the focus should be on strengthening the construction of the digital infrastructure in the central and western regions in order to realize the convenience of digital financial inclusion.

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The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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The authors acknowledge the Chongqing Technology and Business University High-level Talent Research Initiation Project (Grant: 1855004).

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Feiyu Liu, Shiyue Yang, Weidong Huo & Ling Zhu

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Liu, F., Yang, S., Zhou, Y. et al. Does Digital Financial Inclusion Have an Impact on High-Quality Development of Trade? Evidence from China. J Knowl Econ (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-024-02015-7

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