Knowledge management in the public sector: a critical examination of a case study

Knowledge is an important tool that companies use worldwide to improve their efficiency. Managing knowledge has received considerable interest among researchers as it increases the performance of the organization. Since our time is recognized as the era of the knowledge economy, it is important, not only for private but also for public organizations, to understand the importance of Knowledge Management (KM) and to focus on implementing KM practices to achieve better efficiency and to improve the quality of the services provided. The employees of the Prefecture were chosen as case study. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether Knowledge Management (KM) activities are used in the Prefecture. This paper assesses whether specific characteristics of the employees affect their responses. This study also investigates how employees understand KM, its importance, its benefits and difficulties. A quantitative survey was selected to investigate KM in the Prefecture. The link of the questionnaire was emailed and completed online from 153 employees. The results show that employees' responses are affected by particular characteristics such as position of responsibility and years of service in the Prefecture. The findings also reveal that the majority of respondents ignore the existence of a KM Strategy in the Prefecture and associate KM with benefits such as improvement of efficiency and response to customers' needs. The study, which is the first in the Greek public sector, also provides valuable information about KM in the Prefecture as it presents a framework for the assessment of KM enablers.