Abstract
The current research examined the effect of knowledge management (hereafter K-M) in the sector of oil & gas automation of Pakistan. In this paper, we analyzed the perceived importance of K-M from the viewpoint of service providers and end-users in industry. Furthermore, we also tried to relate K-M with firm performance. In total 132 responses were collected from service providers and end-users, out of which 51 responses were from the end-users and the remaining 81 were from service providers. Our results indicated that K-M is considered important by both service providers and end-users. There is no significant perceptual difference regarding the importance of K-M among end-users and service providers, however, end-users are more aware of K-M than service providers. Furthermore, the results showed that the majority of firms have adopted some form of K-M. This study also took into account the major facilitating factors for implementing K-M such as supportive and encouraging organizational culture and development of strategy and objectives relating to K-M, and major hindrances for implementing K-M such as lack of interest, less managerial support, and low employee involvement. Moreover, our results presented a a positive impact of K-M on the performance of firms in the Oil & Gas Automation sector of Pakistan.
Keywords: Knowledge Management; Oil & Gas Automation sector; Service Providers; End Users; Pakistan