Personal Knowledge Management and Knowledge Worker Productivity in the Healthcare Sector

Abstract

The implementation of Knowledge management (KM) in healthcare has primarily been carried out on the organizational level with a traditional centric approach, whereas, personal knowledge management (PKM), a bottom-up approach which focuses on the knowledge in the knowledge workers’ (KWs’) minds, is somewhat missing. This study advocates the implementation of PKM as a complementary approach to a centric approach to KM, if not an alternative approach, in the healthcare sector to foster knowledge-worker productivity (KWP). Therefore, the prime purpose of this study was to empirically test a proposed model which accounts for the impact of the four individual-level determinants – task definition, job autonomy, KW’s lifelong learning and innovation as a job requirement - on the relationship between PKM and KWP. These four determinants are inspired by Drucker's KWP theory that advocated the role of PKM for enhanced KWP. The data were collected from 71 knowledge workers in the public healthcare department of the District Attock, Pakistan and were analysed using partial least squares modelling. The results support the varying roles of four individual-level determinants in fostering PKM, which in turn, increases KWP. The results make the case for additional focus of PKM as a complementary KM approach in the healthcare sector.