Project Overview

Knowledge management (KM) involves identifying, creating, storing, organizing and disseminating knowledge in organizations for efficient use of resources. This study seeks to understand how knowledge management and the emergence of social media (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube; blogs, wikis, etc.) interrelate in non-profit organizations (NPOs). KM has been researched in breadth and depth in FPOs, where it has been demonstrated that KM plays a significant role in the success of these organizations. As knowledge-based organizations, it stands to reason that KM is equally important to non-profits, and yet the sector has received comparatively scant attention in the KM literature. To this end, this study assesses the current state of KM and social media use in small and medium sized non-profit organizations, explores the role of social media in supplementing and facilitating KM practices, and identifies the knowledge needs in these organizations.

Funding

This study was funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada Insight Development Grant of $50,567 (CDN).

Project Team

Lisa Given, Co-Investigator

Dr. Given is Professor of Information Studies and Associate Dean Research (Faculty of Education) and a member of the Research Institute for Professional Practice, Learning and Education at Charles Sturt University, Australia. She serves as a member of the College of the Australian Research Council and is an Adjunct Professor in Humanities Computing, Faculty of Arts and in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta.

Dinesh Rathi, Principal Investigator

Dr. Dinesh Rathi is Associate Professor at the School of Library and Information Sciences, University of Alberta, and brings specialised expertise in knowledge management, social media use and non-profit organisations. Dinesh supervised data collection, and continues to analyse data and publish findings.

Eric Forcier, Research Coordinator and Collaborator

As a Masters student at the University of Alberta, Eric helped to develop, coordinate and direct research activities for this project, and continues to contribute to final analysis and dissemination.

Selected Publications

Journal Articles (Refereed)

Rathi, Dinesh, Lisa M. Given, and Eric Forcier. 2014. “Interorganisational partnerships and knowledge sharing: The perspective of non-profit organisations (NPOs).” Journal of Knowledge Management 18(5):867-885.

Forcier, Eric, Dinesh Rathi, and Lisa M. Given. 2013. “Knowledge management and social media: A case study of two public libraries in Canada.” Journal of Information and Knowledge Management 12(4). http://dx.doi.org/10.1142/S0219649213500391

Conference Proceedings (Refereed Papers)

Rathi, Dinesh, Lisa M. Given, and Eric Forcier. 2014. “Understanding the types of knowledge representations to meet non-profit organisations’ knowledge needs.” Connecting Collections, Cultures and Communities – the 77th Annual Meeting of the Association for Information Science and Technology. Seattle WA, USA, November.

Rathi, Dinesh, Lisa M. Given, Eric Forcier and Sarah Vela. 2014. “Every task its tool, every tool its task: Social media use in Canadian non-profit organizations.” Connecting Across Borders: Globalization and Information Science Research – the 42^nd Annual Conference of the Canadian Association for Information Science. St. Catharines ON, Canada, May.

Vela, Sarah, Eric Forcier, Dinesh Rathi, and Lisa M. Given. 2014. “Disseminating, assimilating and creating: A social knowledge cycle model for non-profit organizations.” Connecting Across Borders: Globalization and Information Science Research – the 42^nd Annual Conference of the Canadian Association for Information Science. St. Catharines ON, Canada, May.

Given, Lisa M., Eric Forcier, and Dinesh Rathi. 2013. “Social media and community knowledge: An ideal partnership for non-profit organizations.” Proceedings of the Association for Information Science & Technology Annual Conference. Montreal, Canada, November.