Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Knowledge ...

Sandra M<strong>of</strong>fett, Rodney McAdam and Paul Humphreys
analysis is undertaken in <strong>the</strong> form <strong>of</strong> descriptives and factor analysis. Key contributors to KM
implementation in both SME and larger organisations are presented and discussed.
2. The MeCTIP knowledge management model
Exploratory literary research found a number <strong>of</strong> aspects which contribute to KM implementation.
M<strong>of</strong>fett et al., (2002; 2003) have grouped <strong>the</strong>se into five key categories that can ei<strong>the</strong>r support or
hinder KM implementation, <strong>the</strong>se five form <strong>the</strong> basis <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> MeCTIP model (shown in figure 1).
MeCTIP is an acronym <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> components <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> model, namely,
Me Macro Environment
C Culture
T Technology
I Information
P People
Figure 1: The MeCTIP model
3. Research methodology
Employing <strong>the</strong> MeCTIP model for guidance an on-line survey based measurement instrument, known
as <strong>the</strong> ‘Benchmarking KM’ tool was created, with input from senior managers (n=10) based in
Nor<strong>the</strong>rn Ireland organisations. The ‘Benchmarking KM’ tool is available at
http://www.business.ulster.ac.uk/questionnaires/m<strong>of</strong>fett/
To administer an empirical study throughout UK organisations, a database <strong>of</strong> UK companies was
created, containing 4709 records with complete company contact details, including email addresses.
2000 organisations were selected at random to participate in <strong>the</strong> study. Following a combination <strong>of</strong> email
(three iterations) and postal (two iterations) contact to identified managers, <strong>the</strong> total number <strong>of</strong>
surveys completed, and suitable for statistical analysis, is 588. This represents a very acceptable
return rate <strong>of</strong> 29.4%.
4. Participant categorisation
Although a full statistical investigation was performed on all data obtained via <strong>the</strong> survey, only data
that relates KM and organisational size is utilised for this paper. The majority <strong>of</strong> respondents were
from large corporations (n=200, 34%) followed by small-medium sized organisations (n=169, 29%).
Respondents belonged to three main industrial sectors, namely Service (n=127, 22%), Engineering
(n=99, 17%) and Public Sector (n=99, 17%). The group that contributed least were from Construction
(n=23, 4%), this could be attributed to current downturn in <strong>the</strong> housing market.
Fur<strong>the</strong>r insight into respondents was gained by assessing market stage. A large percentage <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
respondents (n=218, 37%) operated within mature markets. Only ten organisations (2%) were in
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