International Journal of Information Management 30 (2010) 521528

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International Journal of Information Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijinfomgt

Analyzing ICT adoption and use effects on knowledge creation: An empirical

investigation in SMEs
Carolina Lopez-Nicolas, Pedro Soto-Acosta
Management and Finance Department, University of Murcia, Campus de Espinardo, 30100 Espinardo, Murcia, Spain

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Keywords:
Information technology
Organizational learning
Knowledge Creation
Small- and medium-sized enterprises

a b s t r a c t
This paper investigates the inuence of the adoption and use of information and communication technology (ICT) on organizational learning (OL). The focus is on knowledge, creation, as an articulated construct
for the OL concept, and the SECI (Socialization, Externalization, Combination and Internalization) model
is used as a reference for knowledge, creation. ICT use is seen here as consisting of three different orientations: informative, communicative and workow. The results, based on a sample of around 300 Spanish
small- and, medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), indicate that ICT has a signicant positive inuence on
the, four processes for creating knowledge. ICT oriented to communication and workow is found, to
produce a signicant positive impact on knowledge creation processes, except for, socialization process,
while ICT use for information does not inuence any of the processes for, creating knowledge and OL.
2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Organizational learning (OL) consists of knowledge acquisition,
information distribution, information interpretation, and organizational memory (Huber, 1991), and it should be concerned with
new knowledge creation (Crossan, Lane, & White, 1999; Lpez Saez,
Martn de Castro, & Navas Lpez, 2008). OL is depicted as having a
great potential to affect organizational outcomes, such as organizational control and intelligence, competitive advantage, and the
exploitation of knowledge and technology (Templeton, Lewis, &
Snyder, 2002). By focusing on knowledge creation, considered as
an element of OL, Nonaka and co-workers have developed the SECI
model, a well-accepted framework which encompasses the process
of knowledge creation through conversion from tacit to explicit
knowledge. It consists of four processes: Socialization, Externalization, Combination, and Internalization (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995).
Through the conversion process, tacit and explicit knowledge
expand in both quality and quantity (Nonaka, Toyama, & Nagata,
2000), thus enhancing organizational performance. Organizations
are designing and developing information and communication
technologies (ICTs) which offer opportunities for enhancing strategic learning, even at distance (Thomas, Sussman, & Henderson,
2001). Research has shown that rms overcome learning traps
by employing emerging, novel and pioneering technologies, but
how learning is undertaken through these technologies is unknown

Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 868887805; fax: +34 868887537.

E-mail addresses: carlopez@um.es (C. Lopez-Nicolas), psoto@um.es
(P. Soto-Acosta).
0268-4012/$ see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.03.004

(Small & Irvine, 2006). In addition, earlier studies on OL have

expressed concerns about the lack of empirical research (Dawes,
Lee, & Midgley, 2007; Vince, Sutcliffe, & Olivera, 2002) and have
neglected small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) when analyzing OL (Chaston, Badger, & Sadler-Smith, 1999). Consequently,
this paper investigates the effect of ICT adoption and ICT use on OL
in SMEs in order to address these issues.
Existing research (Appiah-Adu & Sing, 1998; Berry, 1998;
Bhagwat & Sharma, 2007; Burns & Dewhurst, 1996; Ghobadian &
Gallear, 1997; Marri, Gunasekaran, & Grieve, 1998) suggests that
SMEs may differ from larger rms in a number of characteristics:
fewer nancial, technological and personnel resources; personalized management, with little devolution of authority; informal
and exible strategies; at and exible structures; reactive and
re ghting mentality. SMEs are of great importance for economic
growth, employment and wealth creation in both large and small
economies. For example, in Europe, SMEs represent around 99% of
the total number of rms (European Commission, 2004). The limited amount of research with regard to ICT adoption in SMEs has
been attributed to the fact that SMEs started to use ICTs relatively
recently (Caldeira & Ward, 2002).
ICT investment in SMEs, especially that related to Internet technologies, continues to grow because these technologies are being
applied more and more to conducting business activities within the
rms boundaries and with external business agentscustomers,

suppliers, business partners, etc. (Soto-Acosta & Merono-Cerdan,

2008). As a result, researchers and practitioners face pressure to
answer how ICT has to be implemented in SMEs to outperform
traditional work practices. In this sense, learning and unlearning
are important for change and innovation in organizations (Becker,

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C. Lopez-Nicolas, P. Soto-Acosta / International Journal of Information Management 30 (2010) 521528

2008) because, as suggested by Rebernik and Sirec (2007), the better a rm understands the process of creating new knowledge
and discarding obsolete knowledge, the more likely the rm will
be to develop innovation behaviour. OL in the form of accumulated knowledge from past experiences and from stakeholders
(customers, suppliers, business partners, etc.) may be critical for
how processes should be re-designed around ICT by fostering the
learning of effective practices and the unlearning of the obsolete
ones (Starbuck, 1996). Moreover, having a proper ICT infrastructure
can facilitate knowledge creation. However, it does not necessarily mean that this knowledge is created and transformed into OL,
since knowledge will not necessarily circulate freely rm-wide just
because accurate ICT to support such circulation is available (Brown
& Duguid, 2000). Actual ICT use may be an important link to OL. This
paper therefore distinguishes between ICT adoption and ICT use.
The former represents the implementation of ICTs to support business operations and decision making (Fink, 1998), while the latter
considers the different business uses that ICTs can adopt. Here, ICT
use comprises three orientations: informative, communicative and
workow.
Considering the above-mentioned points, the key research
question that motivated our work has to do with evaluating the
effect of ICT adoption/support and ICT use on OL in SMEs. The paper
consists of six sections and is structured as follows. The next section reviews the relevant literature on ICT adoption, use and OL
in SMEs. In Section 3, research hypotheses are then formulated.
The methodology used for sample selection and data collection
is discussed next. Then, data analysis and results are examined.
Finally, the paper ends with a discussion of research ndings and
concluding remarks.

2. Literature review
2.1. ICT adoption and use in SMEs
Researchers such as Henderson and Venkatramans (1999)
argues that ICT is evolving from its traditional back ofce role
towards a strategic role, supporting new business strategies.
Raymonds and Blili (1997) determined the need to implement ICT
strategies in SMEs. They proposed ICT strategies based on experiences from large rms and suggested the incorporation of ICTs
in SMEs to create strategic advantages. Poon and Swatman (1999)
reported on Internet use in SMEs and found that although use of
e-mail is very popular for business communications and document
transfer, there is almost no integration between the Internet and
back-end systems. More recently, Bhagwat and Sharma (2007) conducted a survey on 210 Indian SMEs and observed an increasing
trend in the use of ICTs, but also the absence of ICT capabilities in
these rms to compete in todays global market.
Firms can use ICT for different, but compatible, uses. These are
related to offering information, communications and exchange of
information, and the automation of internal business processes. For

the particular case of Internet applications (Soto-Acosta & MeronoCerdan, 2006), in general terms, three ICT use orientations are
identied: ICT informative orientation, ICT communicative orientation, and ICT workow orientation. In ICT, informative orientation,
technologies in a company are mainly employed to provide and
distribute corporate or commercial information to diverse stakeholders (Huzingh, 2000). In this sense, ICT can be used as a corporate
channel for information dissemination and data access across functional boundaries and organizational levels (Bafoutsou & Mentzas,
2002). Therefore, ICT informative orientation is dened as the
use of ICT to provide one-way company electronic information
directed to one or more stakeholders. ICT communicative orientation, besides allowing cost reduction in comparison to traditional

communication tools, offers a unique and integrated opportunity

for interacting with several business agents (both internal and
external to the organization). In this regard, all these ICTs facilitate
the exchange of information, collaboration and the possibility of
establishing close relationships (Kalakota & Robinson, 2000). Thus,
ICT communicative orientation is dened as the use of ICT for twoway information exchange. In the new economy, work has shifted
from the creation of tangible goods to the ow of information
through the value chain (Basu & Kumar, 2002). The establishment
and development of workow technologies has played a fundamental role in this transition. ICTs, and especially Web technologies,
provide great opportunities for the automation of processes
(Fischer, 2004). Thus, ICT workow orientation involves the establishment of predened electronic processes through corporate
technologies.
In summary, the above literature suggests that ICT cannot
improve organizational performance in SMEs if it is not used appropriately. That is, ICT-based processes should be re-designed in ways
that outperform traditional work practices. Here, OL may play an
important role through, for instance, acquisition of new knowledge
and elimination of obsolete knowledge.
2.2. Organizational learning in SMEs
Organizational knowledge is seen as a resource, a capable source
of competitive advantage (Ambrosini & Bowman, 2001) resulting
from various interactive processes of OL (Johannessen, Olaisen, &
Olsen, 2001). OL consists of knowledge acquisition, information distribution, information interpretation, and organizational memory
(Huber, 1991). Learning in organizations is closely related to knowledge creation and OL should be concerned with new knowledge
acquisition and creation (Crossan et al., 1999; Lpez Saez et al.,
2008).
OL is gaining increasing mention in the literature as a mechanism for assisting SME survival (Chaston et al., 1999). Due to
their specicities, SMEs show a particular behaviour with regard
to the creation, development, sharing, protection and transmission
of knowledge (Basly, 2007). Firm size may inuence knowledge
acquisition (Yli-renko, Autio, & Sapienza, 2001), in the sense that an
organization with several hundred employees will naturally have
a more difcult time in sharing knowledge among individuals and
groups than a rm with only a few employees (Bontis, Crossan,
& Hulland, 2002). Although a lot of research on OL describes the
application within large rms (Chaston et al., 1999), our focus is on
SMEs. Small businesses are fully aware of the need for OL (Chaston
et al., 1999), they are likely to be knowledge generators and their
organic structure and culture may foster knowledge innovations.
In short, the literature shows that different dimensions of OL are
negatively correlated to rm size, indicating that OL is higher and
more important for SMEs (Templeton et al., 2002).
Following the conceptualization of OL presented by Huber
(1991), the focus in our paper is on knowledge creation as an
articulated construct for the OL concept. The theory of organizational knowledge creation proposes that new knowledge is created
through processes of conversion between tacit and explicit knowledge (Erden, Von Krogh, & Nonaka, 2008; Geisler, 2009). Through
the conversion process, tacit and explicit knowledge expands in
both quality and quantity (Nonaka et al., 2000), thus improving
corporate performance. To explore knowledge creation, our study
adopts Nonaka and Takeuchis (1995) SECI (socialization, externalization, combination, internalization) model. This model seems
to have been accepted by the academic community as universally
valid in conception and in application (Glisby & Holden, 2003). As
a result, authors from diverse research areas such as OL, new product development, and ICT, have used this model to conduct their
investigations (Chou & He, 2004).

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523

Nonaka and Takeuchis (1995) SECI model is made up of four

intertwined activity modes for knowledge creation: socialization
(S), externalization (E), combination (C), and internalization (I).
Socialization seeks to share tacit knowledge among individuals
by converting it into new tacit knowledge. For example, mentoring and apprenticeships instruct tacitly through observation,
imitation, and practice (Chou, Chang, Tsai, & Cheng, 2005). Externalization codies tacit knowledge into explicit concepts, as
in writing instruction manuals. Combination converts explicit
knowledge into more systematic sets, for instance by integrating
existing information extracted from databases and creating new
knowledge (Chou et al., 2005). Internalization is a process of
embodying explicit knowledge into tacit knowledge through a
series of iterations in which concepts become concrete and are
ultimately absorbed as an integral belief or value. OL takes place
as individuals participate in the processes in the SECI model, since
by doing so, their knowledge is shared, articulated, and made
available to others (Marwick, 2001).

ICT small businesses, that these companies are likely to use ICT tools
and OL practices more frequently and they conclude that OL can be
boosted through investing in ICT. Specically for SECI processes,
Lee and Choi (2003) nd that ICT support only has a signicant
inuence on combination. We believe, instead, that all four processes for knowledge creation (SECI) can be enhanced by adopting
ICTs. In summary, the benets derived from ICT implementation,
which include efcient information and knowledge sharing as well
as working with no distance limitations, are expected to be positively related to knowledge creation, which in turn may affect
higher levels of OL. Thus, the following hypotheses are proposed:

3. Hypotheses development

H1c. ICT adoption/support is positively related to the combination

process.

3.1. ICT adoption/support and organizational learning

ICTs are tools that allow information and knowledge exchange,
as well as work execution by integrating information, documents
and employees. Thus, ICTs can be used to distribute and share individual experience throughout the organization. ICTs also allow the
participation of users and partners in remote places. This emphasizes the instrumental role of ICT as an enabler of the formation
of virtual teams (Adamides & Karacapilidis, 2006; Kessler, 2003).
No rm can afford to ignore new ICTs which radically reduce the
time needed to create and communicate knowledge (Nonaka &
Nishiguchi, 2001).
The literature argues that the amount of information and knowledge in a modern organization that needs to be captured, stored and
shared, the geographic distribution of sources and consumers, and
the dynamic evolution of information making the use of technology
support is not an option, but a necessity. Recently, Sambamurthy
and Subramani (2005) have also defended the critical role of ICTs in
shaping organizational efforts for knowledge creation, acquisition,
integration, valuation, and use. The inuence of ICT on knowledge
management (KM) differs from one KM strategy to another, from
codication to personalization (Hansen, Nohria, & Tierney, 1999).
Organizations are looking to ICTs for solutions to their KM

(Lpez-Nicols & Merono-Cerdn,

2009). Indeed, rst approaches
to managing knowledge focused primarily on developing new
applications of ICTs to leverage codied knowledge (Zack, 1999).
Most KM projects, though, have failed due to, among other reasons,
an over-focus on technologies (Moffett, McAdam, & Parkinson,
2002). The ability of new technologies to support KM in a meaningful manner depends on the types of knowledge (Flanagin, 2002)
and on the KM strategy chosen. Besides, ICTs used to support KM
present some limitations, since they reduce the very richness of
knowledge when it is codied and management and sharing of tacit
knowledge through technologies is problematic (Flanagin, 2002).
Technology offers opportunities for enhancing strategic learning. Thomas et al. (2001) show in their case study that technology
can be used to leverage strategic learning capability across distance
and multiple levels of analysis. They argue that, without the technology, the interpretive process operates at the group level, but
with the appropriate technology it operates at an organizational
level and provides a high incidence of integration. Since experts
throughout the organization participate in the process of interpreting and validating new lessons, they facilitate enculturation of the
knowledge and help to create a sense of ownership. Ruiz-Mercader,

Merono-Cerdan,
and Sabater-Snchez (2006) nd, from sample of

Hypothesis 1. ICT adoption/support is positively related to knowledge creation processes.

H1a. ICT adoption/support is positively related to the socialization
process.
H1b. ICT adoption/support is positively related to the externalization process.

H1d. ICT adoption/support is positively related to the internationalization process.

3.2. ICT use orientations and organizational learning
While OL processes can be performed without supporting applications of ICT, technology allows these processes to be performed
more effectively (Robey, Ross, & Boudreau, 2002). ICTs per se can
inuence OL and knowledge creation, as posited in Hypothesis
1; however, we argue that the orientation in the implementation of ICTs can also have an impact on the different processes
for creating knowledge. In other words, the processes for OL and
knowledge creation encompassed in the SECI model may be inuenced differently, depending on the orientation of ICT (informative,
communicative and workow orientations) a company uses.
Informative oriented ICTs are systems designed to enhance
organizational memory (Robey et al., 2002) as they provide oneway company electronic information by disseminating information
and data. ICT informative orientation hardly enables the creation
of new knowledge and some ICTs may even disable OL (Orlikowski,
1992). Besides, efforts to use advanced ICTs to support tacit knowledge sharing have been viewed as problematic (Flanagin, 2002;
Johannessen et al., 2001). Although these shortcomings are likely
to disappear as ICTs evolve (Flanagin, 2002) and social software is
developed (Avram, 2006), difculties in enhancing knowledge creation and OL for ICT informative orientation are still present. Thus,
we posit the following:
Hypothesis 2. The ICT informative orientation does not have a
positive inuence on knowledge creation
H2a. The ICT informative orientation does not have a positive
inuence on the socialization process.
H2b. The ICT informative orientation does not have a positive
inuence on the externalization process.
H2c. The ICT informative orientation does not have a positive
inuence on the combination process.
H2d. The ICT informative orientation does not have a positive
inuence on the internationalization process.
Instead, ICT communicative and workow orientations are
expected to be positively associated with the four processes of
SECI for knowledge creation. Communication between members
is essential to OL and can be supported by communicative oriented

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ICTs that provide communication links between members and by

storing historical records of decisions (Robey et al., 2002).
Socialization includes the shared formation and communication
of tacit knowledge between people. Tacit knowledge sharing is connected to ideas of communities and collaboration (Marwick, 2001)
and tacit knowledge acquisition can occur only through individuals
interactions or sharing experience (Chou & He, 2004). Socialization
also takes advantage of the tacit knowledge embedded in customers or suppliers by interacting with them (Nonaka & Takeuchi,
1995). Those interactions can be enabled by and through ICTs, some
of which may be hosted on the corporate website as a way to
foster customer knowledge management (Lopez-Nicolas & MolinaCastillo, 2008). This implies that ICTs oriented to communication
will best enhance socialization process.
Externalization involves translating the tacit knowledge of customers or experts into easily understandable forms (Chou & He,
2004). When rms want to extract tacit knowledge from employees for a repository, they choose some sort of community-based
electronic discussion or chat group (Davenport & Prusak, 1998).
In order to achieve externalization, employees adopt ICTs such as
groupware and other team collaboration tools which contribute
to the benet of all participants (Chou & He, 2004). For externalization, ICT communicative and workow orientations seem to be
more appropriate.
Combination is a process of systemizing concepts into a knowledge system, such as databases and knowledge bases so that the
reconguration of existing information through sorting, adding,
combining, and categorizing explicit knowledge can also create
new knowledge (Chou & He, 2004). Individuals exchange and combine knowledge through ICT, such as communication networks,
Internet, and Intranet. The combination of explicit knowledge is
most efciently supported in collaborative environments using ICT
(Nonaka & Konno, 1998). Thus, ICT oriented to communication and
workow is expected to be useful approaches for combination.
In order to make internalization possible, companies seek to
encourage and facilitate informal conversations and discussions.
Thus, designing physical meeting spaces and conducting face-toface meetings may be essential for internalization (Chou & He,
2004). Workow technologies oriented towards making processes
easier and more efcient can enhance OL. For instance, Luo, Zhao,
and Du (2005) argue that e-commerce (an example of ICT workow
orientation) facilitates OL by creating multidirectional information
and business exchange. ICTs oriented to communication and workow are expected to foster internalization. Based on the previous
discussion, we posit the following:
Hypothesis 3. There is a positive relationship between the ICT
communicative orientation and knowledge creation processes
H3a. There is a positive relationship between the ICT communicative orientation and the socialization process.
H3b. There is a positive relationship between the ICT communicative orientation and the externalization process.
H3c. There is a positive relationship between the ICT communicative orientation and the combination process.
H3d. There is a positive relationship between the ICT communicative orientation and the internationalization process.
Hypothesis 4. There is a positive relationship between the ICT
workow orientation and knowledge creation
H4a. There is a positive relationship between the ICT workow
orientation and the socialization process.
H4b. There is a positive relationship between the ICT workow
orientation and the externalization process.

Fig. 1. Theoretical model.

H4c. There is a positive relationship between the ICT workow

orientation and the combination process.
H4d. There is a positive relationship between the ICT workow
orientation and the internationalization process.
The relationships investigated in this study are presented in
Fig. 1.
4. Methodology
The organizations selected for this study were SMEs in Spain.
Nonetheless, to ensure a minimum rm complexity in which ITs
may be relevant, only rms with at least 10 employees were used.
4.1. Sample and data collection
The target population consisted of SMEs from the Region of Murcia (Spain), with at least 10 employees. Two hundred ninety seven
valid responses were obtained from different industries. The study
assumed an error of 5.4% for p = q = 50 and a condence level of
95.5%. A structured questionnaire consisting of close-ended questions was developed. Face-to-face surveys with the key informant
person in each company were conducted in May 2005. Studied
companies were SMEs and most interviewees were CEOs. Table 1
shows the characteristics of the sample.
4.2. Measures of variables
This section describes the variables used for measuring the
knowledge creation processes, ICT adoption/support and the ICT
use orientations. The formulation and criteria for answering the
questionnaire are described in Appendix A. All of the variables
were measured using ve-point Likert-type scales. We used the
scale by Lee and Choi (2003), which consists of a total of 19
items, to measure the four knowledge creation processes in the
SECI model. ICT adoption/support was measured by 6 items, following the previous literature (Lee & Choi, 2003). In order to
measure the ICT use orientations, rms were requested to value
their ICT degree of use in order to inform others (ICT informative orientation), their ICT degree of debate or reception of others
suggestions (ICT communicative orientation), and of support for
the automation of business processes (ICT workow orientation).
Table 1
Sample characteristics (N = 297).
Business industry

Respondent title

Textile
Food and agriculture
ICTs
Services to businesses
Retail
Others

12.6
40.0
1.6
15.2
17.7
12.9

Managing director, CEO

Human resources manager
Business operations manager
Administration/nance manager
Others

58.4
8.7
5.2
23.5
4.2

No. of employees
1049
50249

%
74.4
25.6

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525

Table 2
Variables descriptives.
Variable

Mean

S.D.

Socialization
Externalization
Combination
Internalization
ICT support
ICT information orientation
ICT communication orientation
ICT transaction orientation

3.5961
3.6213
3.6703
3.2144
3.2908
3.8513
2.0286
3.5443

0.69094
0.77430
0.80345
0.81156
0.84357
0.97243
1.08291
1.05951

**
***

Pearson correlations
SOC

EXT

COMB

INT

ICT support

ICT information

ICT communication

ICT transaction

1
0.579***
0.548***
0.577***
0.526***
0.215***
0.134**
0.160***

1
0.522***
0.634***
0.465***
0.206***
0.150***
0.294***

1
0.615***
0.593***
0.259***
0.248***
0.243***

1
0.558***
0.168***
0.262***
0.202***

1
0.260***
0.216***
0.166***

1
0.358***
0.349***

1
0.226***

Signicance level: p < 0.05.

Signicance level: p < 0.01.

Table 3
Statistics for reliability and validity tests.
Measures

Items

Reliability
(Cronbach alpha)

Convergent validity (correlation of item

with total store-item)

Discriminant validity (factor loading on

single factors)

Socialization
Externalization
Combination
Internalization
ICT support
ICT information orientation
ICT communication orientation
ICT workow orientation

5
5
5
4
6
3
3
3

0.710
0.865
0.796
0.792
0.860
0.698
0.708
0.701

0.455; 0.573; 0.403; 0.501; 0.466

0.706; 0.679; 0.677; 0.739; 0.637
0.576; 0.558; 0.653; 0.607; 0.495
0.604; 0.525; 0.679; 0.598
0.717; 0.641; 0.679; 0.686; 0.592; 0.603
0.402; 0.399; 0.416
0.443; 0.408; 0.542
0.427; 0.436; 0.400

0.686; 0.758; 0.538; 0.730; 0.692

0.821; 0.801; 0.800; 0.844; 0.768
0.742; 0.726; 0.804; 0.770; 0.667
0.777; 0.692; 0.837; 0.783
0.816; 0.755; 0.793; 0.798; 0.718; 0.730
0.532; 0.514; 0.605
0.754; 0.612; 0.854
0.673; 0.719; 0.521

The nal measure of each construct used in the data analyses

was created as an average of the items included in each variable
(Table 2).
The validity of the construct is established by relating a measuring instrument to a general theoretical framework in order to
determine whether the instrument is tied to the concepts and
theoretical assumptions employed. In order to obtain evidence of
construct validity, convergent validity and discriminant validity are
assessed. For the rst one, the item-to-total correlation is examined. The lower limit is 0.4. Discriminant validity is checked by
a factor analysis. Each variable must have a factor loading on a
single factor over 0.5. The results (Table 3) conrm that each construct is unidimensional and factorially different and that all items
employed for operationalizing a particular construct load on a single factor. The reliability is the accuracy or precision of a measuring
instrument, that is, the extent to which the respondent can answer
the same or practically the same value each time. Internal reliability was assessed by calculating the Cronbach alpha. It can also
be observed that acceptable values (above 0.70) are obtained in all
cases. Relatively high values of reliability and validity imply that the
instruments used in this study are adequate. As shown in Table 3,
tests of reliability and validity for the scales presented acceptable
values in all cases.

4.3. Analyses and results

The main objective of the empirical study is to assess the extent
to which ICT adoption/support and ICT orientations affect or condition the knowledge creation processes encompassed in the SECI
model. In order to test the hypotheses posited, hierarchical linear
regressions were used for each knowledge creation process. The
analysis was performed in 2 steps. The dependent variable (each
SECI process) was initially regressed on the ICT adoption/support
variable in step 1. Then, in step 2 the three ICT use orientations
were added. To examine the suitability of using regression analysis, tests were conducted to assess the normality of residuals and
the homogeneity of variance of residuals (Hair, Anderson, Tatham,
& Black, 1998). No signicant violations of these assumptions were
observed.
Regression results are summarized in Table 4. Results in model
1 conrmed that the ICT adoption/support variable explains the
dependent variables. Thus, support for Hypotheses H1a, H1b, H1c
and H1d was provided. Model 2 showed that the direct effect of
ICT use orientations on externalization, combination and internalization processes was signicant since the increment in the
squared multiple correlation coefcient (R2 ) was statistically signicant. The effect of the ICT informative orientation upon SECI

Table 4
Hierarchical linear regression results.
N = 297

Socialization
Model 1

Constant
ICT support
ICT information orientation
ICT communication orientation
ICT workow orientation
F-Value
Adjusted R2
Sign.  in R2
*
**
***

Signicance level: p < 0.1.

Signicance level: p < 0.05.
Signicance level: p < 0.01.

***

2.264
0.504***

100.32***
0.251

Externalization
Model 2
***

2.024
0.477***
0.074
-0.009
0.056
26.20***
0.254
0.253

Model 1
***

2.220
0.460***

79.30***
0.209

Combination
Model 2
***

1.733
0.418***
0.020
0.003
0.217***
25.80***
0.251
0.000

Model 1
***

1.908
0.581***

150.03***
0.335

Internalization
Model 2
***

1.487
0.529***
0.049
0.089*
0.118**
42.99***
0.362
0.002

Model 1
***

1.488
0.540***

121.25***
0.289

Model 2
1.270***
0.504***
-0.052
0.148***
0.103**
34.80***
0.314
0.004

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C. Lopez-Nicolas, P. Soto-Acosta / International Journal of Information Management 30 (2010) 521528

processes was not statistically signicant, as predicted, which

supports Hypotheses H2a, H2b, H2c and H2d. The relationship
between the ICT communicative orientation and the SECI processes
was positive and statistically signicant for the combination and
internalization processes only. Through this analysis, support for
Hypotheses H3c and H3d was found, while support for H3a and
H3b was not provided. Finally, the effect of ICT workow orientation on SECI processes was positive and statistically signicant
for three of the four processes (externalization, combination and
internalization). Thus, support for Hypothesis H4b, H4c and H4d
was provided, while H4a was not supported.
To test the signicance of the effects further, the incremental R2
between the full models (model 2) and the partial model (without
ICT use orientations, model 1) was compared. A Wald test was performed and the differences were found to be statistically signicant
(except for the socialization process). These results are reported in
the lower rows of Table 4. Based on this, the partial models were
rejected in favour of the full models (Greene, 2000).
5. Discussion and conclusions
The present research examines the effect of ICT adoption/support and ICT use on OL, in terms of the four processes
for creating knowledge incorporated in the SECI model by Nonaka
and Takeuchi (1995). Results from hierarchical regression analyses reveal that adoption/support of ICTs by a company enhances
knowledge creation, and in turn OL, by positively inuencing the
processes of socialization, externalization, combination and internalization. Similarly to our results, some earlier studies have found
that IT is a crucial element for knowledge creation (e.g. Davenport
& Prusak, 1998), as ICT facilitates rapid collection, storage, and
exchange of knowledge on a scale not practicable in the past,
thereby assisting the knowledge creation process (Roberts, 2000).
However, this nding contrasts to the earlier literature. In their
study on major companies in Korea, Lee and Choi (2003) found
that ICT adoption/support has no impact on socialization, externalization and internalization. In contrast, our results suggest that a
suitable ICT adoption/support is of paramount importance for creating new knowledge and improving OL. These contrasting results
may be due to the fact that our study focuses on Spanish SMEs,
while Lee and Choi (2003) analyze listed companies with more
than 100 employees. The literature suggests that the use of different ICT and KM solutions should support all SECI processes,
although the balance between them in a particular organization
will depend on the KM strategy used (Marwick, 2001; Hansen et
al., 1999). Although not specically considered here, ICT adoption/support may differ from one KM strategy to another, from
codication to personalization (Hansen et al., 1999). This may also
explain our nding about the fact that ICT adoption/support affects
the various SECI processes for knowledge creation differently. The
positive effect is higher in the cases of combination and internalization than for socialization and externalization. The reason for
this nding may lie in the fact that both combination and internalization are processes whose input is explicit knowledge that is
later transformed into explicit and tacit knowledge, respectively.
Earlier research has highlighted the difculties for ICTs to support tacit knowledge sharing (Flanagin, 2002; Johannessen et al.,
2001). Most of these shortcomings are likely to disappear as ICTs
evolve (Flanagin, 2002) and social software is developed (Avram,
2006) in the near future, thus allowing more tacit knowledge to be
shared using advanced ICT. Another reason may refer to the fact
that although the ICT considered in the questionnaire are diverse,
most of them are mainly used in SMEs to share explicit knowledge, and leveraging combination and internalization processes to
a greater extent than socialization and externalization where tacit
knowledge is the predominant input.

The empirical analyses also demonstrate the importance of

adopting a proper ICT orientation if knowledge creation and OL
are to be empowered. Results indicate that implementing an ICT
informative orientation is not related to the knowledge creation
processes. This means that implementations of ICTs oriented only
to information may foster the organization memory (Robey et al.,
2002) but are not supportive in creating knowledge and OL. This
is consistent with the idea that individuals using corporate informative oriented ICTs may search for data and transform it into
information but may not engage in learning unless the data are
structured appropriately (Small & Irvine, 2006) and converted to
new knowledge. This studys nding conrms that executives and
management need to be aware of the limitations of adopting an ICT
informative orientation if knowledge creation and OL is sought.
Regarding the ICT communicative and workow orientations,
our hypotheses are partially supported. Both combination and
internalization are inuenced by ICTs oriented to communication
and workow, while externalization is only determined by the
ICT workow orientation, and socialization by neither of the ICT
use orientations. This implies that around a third of the variance
of combination and internalization is explained by ICT adoption/support and use, whereas for socialization and externalization
the explaining power of ICTs is only 25%. The scarce impact of
ICT on socialization may be due to the very denition of that process. Socialization deals with converting new tacit knowledge, and
because tacit knowledge is difcult to formalise and often time- and
space-specic, it can be acquired only through shared experience,
such as spending time together or living in the same environment
(Nonaka et al., 2000). Here, current technologies may be of little
use even when they are oriented to communication. A promising
avenue for practitioners is to combine face-to-face interaction, crucial for socialization, with new ICTs (Nonaka & Nishiguchi, 2001).
In the case of externalization, the use of ICT for improving business processes is found to have an impact on knowledge creation.
An example of workow ICT is one that automates processes and
allows employees to make improvements to the manufacturing
process. Such a system can support externalization by articulating the tacit knowledge accumulated on the shop oor over years
in the job (Nonaka et al., 2000).
Combination is the process of converting explicit knowledge
into more complex and systematic sets of explicit knowledge. In
this process, ICT adoption/support and use are found to have a
bigger inuence. Lee and Choi (2003) report a similar result for
the impact of ICT support and combination, but in their analysis they do not include the different ICT orientations studied in
the present paper. Through internalization, explicit knowledge created is shared throughout an organization and converted into tacit
knowledge by individuals and this tacit knowledge is accumulated
at the individual level and can then set off a new spiral of knowledge creation when it is shared with others through socialization
(Nonaka et al., 2000). The internalization of knowledge by the organization can be in the form of embedding that new knowledge
inside technologies for routines and processes, so giving birth to
workow tools and ICT oriented to automate processes. The ndings presented here are consistent with this idea in the sense that
ICT workow orientation has a signicant positive impact on internalization.
This study has some obvious limitations, which will be
addressed in future research. First, the sample was obtained from
the Region of Murcia (Spain). In this sense, ndings may be extrapolated to other Spanish areas and other countries, since economic
and technological development in Murcia and Spain is similar to
other OECD member countries. However, in future research, a sampling frame that combines rms from different countries could be
used in order to provide a more international perspective on the
subject. Second, the sample consisted of SMEs, and according to

C. Lopez-Nicolas, P. Soto-Acosta / International Journal of Information Management 30 (2010) 521528

Spanish Statistics National Institute, large companies are more used

to implementing ICTs (INE, 2006). This segment is worthy of special analysis. Third, the key informant method was used for data
collection. This method, while having its advantages, also suffers
from the limitation that the data reect the opinions of an individual. Future studies could consider research designs that allow
data collection from multiple respondents within an organization.
Fourth, the study is based on direct questions to the key informant person at one point in time (cross-sectional picture), which
makes it impossible to perform beforeafter comparisons. A longitudinal study could enrich the ndings. Fifth, ICT is one of the
several resources needed to support knowledge creation processes
and, therefore, must be designed and implemented in accordance
with these other resources, in particular human resources (Nonaka
& Nishiguchi, 2001). Besides, regarding ICT, this study focuses on
the various uses of intranet, website and Internet a rm makes, as
well as on the use of different ICT applications such as collaborative technologies or simulators. The interplay of different types of
ICT and those other resources supporting knowledge creation and
OL needs further research. Finally, it would be interesting to see
in a future study whether differences in the proposed model exist
between manufacturing and service companies or low-tech versus
high-tech rms by conducting a post hoc analysis and comparing
different groups of organizations.
.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the three anonymous reviewers for their
highly constructive comments and suggestions which have allowed
us to improve the work. We also thank Fundacin CajaMurcia for
the nancial support provided.
Appendix A. Measures
Socialization
Our company stresses gathering information from sales and production sites.
Our company stresses sharing experience with suppliers and customers.
Our company stresses engaging in dialogue with competitors.
Our company stresses nding new strategies and market opportunities by
wandering inside the rm.
Our company stresses creating a work environment that allows peers to
understand the craftsmanship and expertise.
Externalization
Our company stresses creative and essential dialogues.
Our company stresses the use of deductive and inductive thinking.
Our company stresses the use of metaphors in dialogue for concept creation.
Our company stresses exchanging various ideas and dialogues.
Our company stresses subjective opinions.
Combination
Our company stresses planning strategies using the published literature,
computer simulation and forecasting.
Our company stresses creating manuals and documents on products and
services.
Our company stresses building databases on products and services.
Our company stresses building up materials by gathering management gures
and technical information.
Our company stresses transmitting newly created concepts.
Internalization
Our company stresses enactive liaising activities with functional departments
by cross-functional development teams.
Our company stresses forming teams as a model and conducting experiments,
and sharing results with entire departments.
Our company stresses searching and sharing new values and thoughts.
Our company stresses sharing and trying to understand management visions
through communications with fellows.
ICT adoption/support
Our company provides IT support for internal collaborative works regardless
of time and place.

527

Our company provides IT support for external collaborative works regardless

of time and place.
Our company provides IT support for communication among organization
members.
Our company provides IT support for searching for and accessing necessary
information.
Our company provides IT support for simulation and prediction.
Our company provides IT support for systematic storing.
ICT information orientation
Our company uses its Intranet to inform employees.
Our company uses its webpage to inform customers.
Our company uses the Internet to obtain information about suppliers,
competitors, etc.
ICT communication orientation
Our company uses its Intranet to receive/debate suggestions from employees.
Our company uses its webpage to receive/debate suggestions from customers.
Our company uses the Internet to participate in discussion forums.
ICT workow orientation
Our company uses its Intranet to support internal processes automation.
Our company uses its webpage to support external processes automation
(sales).
Our company uses the Internet to support external processes automation
(purchases, procedures, etc.).

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Carolina Lopez-Nicolas (PhD, University of Murcia, Spain) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Management and Finance at the University of Murcia,
Spain. She has been a Visiting Professor at Delft University of Technology in the
Netherlands and Michigan State University in USA. Her current research relates to
knowledge management, information systems, business strategy and mobile communications. She has published on these topics in such journals as the Information
& Management, Technological Forecasting & Social Change, Journal of Knowledge Management, International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, and the Journal
of Enterprise Information Management.
Pedro Soto-Acosta is an Associate Professor of Management at the University of
Murcia (Spain). He holds a PhD in Management Information Systems (MISs) and
a Masters degree in Technology Management from the University of Murcia. He
received his BA in Accounting and Finance from the Manchester Metropolitan
University (UK) and his BA in Business Administration from the University of Murcia. He attended Postgraduate Courses at Harvard University (USA). His work has
been published in journals such as the European Journal of Information Systems,
the International Journal of Electronic Business, the International Journal of Information Management, the Information Systems Management, and the Journal of Enterprise
Information Management, among others. He is also an Editorial Board Member and
Associate Editor for several International Journals and Chairman of various International Conferences.