The Role of Knowledge Management in Development Projects

This article was published in the Journal of Information & Knowledge Management [© World Scientific Publishing Co.] and the definitive version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1142/S0219649211003024The paper investigates the role of knowledge management in enabling project success, innovation, completion times, operational efficiency and the generation of new knowledge in development projects. Four projects in Uganda, Nigeria, and Cote d'Ivoire were used as case studies. The objective was to explore the nature of knowledge management practices in these projects in order to see how they could be improved. The research found that knowledge management is a significant factor in speeding up completion times, achieving project success, innovation, operational efficiency and the generation of new knowledge. Knowledge sharing practices were identified within case studies and difficulties relating to managing knowledge generated during the project were highlighted