An Analysis of the Perceived Value of Using Knowledge Management Systems in Supporting Decision Making Processes

Nowadays businesses are faced with complex and ill-defined decision problems. With the advent of the knowledge economy and the rising importance of knowledge societies, organisations are constantly seeking new ways of leveraging knowledge assets to support decision making processes and to reap benefits such as cost savings, improved productivity and enhanced corporate competitiveness. This study has endeavoured to analyse the perceived value of using Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) in supporting Decision Making (DM) processes. The research conducted in this study has brought focus on the usage, decision quality, usefulness and satisfaction of using KMS and proposed a conceptual framework for analysing the perceived value of using KMS in supporting DM processes. A questionnaire has been designed and distributed to various organisations with the objective of verifying the proposed framework. The responses were analysed and the findings revealed that the most used tool of KMS in supporting DM processes is the search engine and it is vey effective and the least used tool is the knowledge harvesting tool. KMS are significant in DM process and are very significant in evaluating alternatives in the DM processes. KMS are used to support operational decisions more than strategic and tactical decisions. KMS improve and create high quality decisions and can support unstructured and semi-structured decisions. KMS are flexible, can minimising errors and provide appropriate help when the decision maker has a trouble. KMS are effective and efficient and most of participants perceive several benefits of using KMS in supporting DM processes. Users are satisfied by using KMS because of their ease of use, accessibility and friendliness, but they perceive that mental fatigue can occur from using KMS. Hence, the proposed framework will be highly significant and beneficial to organisations.