Worldwide, a great emphasis was put on the importance of becoming globally competitive with an economy based on knowledge while addressing unemployment and developing human capital through lifelong learning. Therefore, this chapter sought to review the international literature on KM and KE in the higher education context, to increase awareness and inform the development of HE strategies as well as future research. After presenting how the knowledge economy is influencing the higher education context in general, the chapter focus on the KM in HEIs. Apart from models of KM application, the literature revealed the need of embedding it on all structural levels and organisational culture. The importance of collaborative working and the development of communities of practice in universities is highlighted very well, as well as the benefits of digitalization. The chapter concluded with a brief discussion and an outline of the main points.
TopIntroduction
Drucker (2008) considers ‘knowledge’ one of the most important resources of the economy, while other researchers (Halford, 2020; Nonaka & Takeuchi, 2019) characterise it as an intangible and nonlinear production resource, a public good (Handa et al, 2019) open, and collaborative (Bratianu et al., 2021). Furthermore, Bratianu et al. (2021) sustain the views expressed by other researchers that the knowledge of a group cannot be obtained by cumulating the knowledge of each group member, but through an integration process.
Since 1993, when the White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness, and Employment was released (European Commission, Secretariat - General, 1993), in Europe and worldwide, a great emphasis was put on the importance of becoming globally competitive within an economy based more and more on knowledge while addressing unemployment and developing the human capital through lifelong learning. In the same period, a good number of researchers and international bodies contributed to the development of knowledge economy and knowledge management concepts, and we mention here the Commission of the European Communities (1997, the Amsterdam Treaty), OECD, and World Bank. In the context of the knowledge economy, the organisations are challenged to understand and integrate the knowledge within processes to increase capabilities, sustainability and enhance organisational learning.
Therefore, this chapter sought to review the international literature on knowledge management and knowledge economy in the higher education context, to increase awareness and inform the development of HE strategies as well as future research.
The present review seeks to address the following questions:
- 1.
How the knowledge economy is reflected in the higher education context?
- 2.
Knowledge management – strategic change, or a framework for higher education settings?
Figure 1.
A flow diagram of the selection process of eligible studies (by author)
TopMethod
This literature review will explore the current knowledge considering the PRISMA guidelines outlined by Moher et al. (2009). A systematic search of electronic databases was conducted on the Google Scholar, ERIC, and Central and Eastern European Online Library (CEEOL) including a combination of terms: knowledge economy, knowledge management, higher education (using Boolean operators). The search was limited to academic papers published in peer-reviewed journals, all written in English and published in the last five years (2017 – 2021), to ensure the robustness of the findings. The reference lists in the selected articles were also scrutinised to retrieve potentially relevant papers. The retrieved studies were screened for duplication by title, then based on inclusion criteria, and abstract. A final screening was done based on the full-text content. Data were extracted from eligible papers using the template developed for the purpose of this literature review.