Improved E-Business Through Effective Knowledge Management Using The Business-To-Consumer E-Business Model

Abstract

This paper was focused on establishing the relationship between effective Knowledge Management practices and improved e-business. The use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to improve Knowledge Management has gained recognition, the main factors being the push for successful innovation, having devoted and motivated individuals, and paying attention to a wide range of management activities and attitudes such as the ability to scan, predict and respond to the dynamic business environment. In the last twenty years, the importance of Knowledge Management in the business world has been ignored. This paper, therefore, aims to establish the effect of Effort Expectancy, Facilitating Conditions, Performance Expectancy, Social Influence, Relative Advantage, Complexity, Compatibility, Observability, Collaborative System, Management Software, Human Capital, and Relational Capital on effective Knowledge Management in the Business-to-consumer (B2C) e-business retail industry in Nairobi County, Kenya.

The study was based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology and the innovation diffusion theory. It entailed a descriptive cross-sectional research design. A total of 138 Information Technology employees of online retailers in Kenya respondents were sampled. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection. The data was then analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was then used to validate the model.

 The study found that all the factors have a significant and positive relationship with knowledge management in retail online stores. It was found that there was a significant effect of complexity, compatibility, effort expectancy, relational capital, human capital, management software, collaborative system, facilitating conditions, performance expectancy, social influence, relative advantage and information systems success factors with knowledge management in the retail industry. The results also show that all the factors explain 72.6% of the proportion in knowledge management in retail online stores in Kenya, as the overall R² value was 0.726.

The study concluded that there were factors that influenced e-business adoption for knowledge management in the retail industry. These factors included e-business facilitating and individual factors, organizational usage factors, organizational structure factors and information systems success factors. The study also concluded that these factors all had a significant influence on knowledge management. The study recommends an awareness and training policy for all staff in the retail industry, which will emphasize the importance of e-business factors that were found to contribute to knowledge management.

 Keywords: e-business, Business-to-consumer (B2C), Knowledge Management (KM), organization, retail