knowledge management and university performance, 20 years of research: a systematic literature review

Résumé

20 years ago, the relationship between KM and performance in a higher educational context started to generate interest within the scientific community. Our main objective is to explore how the literature on our topic has developed over time and to identify the characteristics of this relationship.

To do so, we searched the Scopus and Wos databases to conduct a systematic literature review on 48 papers.

The main results showed that this topic has undergone a substantial evolution in the last two years, and several authors in different disciplines have contributed to this evolution. There is a standard agreement among researchers concerning the theoretical bases, but few conceptual models specific to the context of higher education were developed. There is also a concentration of research in Asian countries due to the support of their governments. The results allowed us to identify the principale variables used in the literature to measure our concepts. We also identified some avenues for future research.

The results imply that developing countries wishing to reform their education systems have much to gain by encouraging research in this area.