Managerial factors that influence the success of knowledge management systems: A systematic literature review

The purpose of this research is to remove the ambiguity that clouds the analysis of knowledge management systems (KMSs). This is because of an overall lack of consensus on how KMSs adapt to the new “knowledge explosion” embraced by the booming “Big Data” hype. In this paper, a refreshing synthesis of literature will uncover benefits and identify gaps in current knowledge. These findings will also be of benefit to researchers and industries as it allows for the holistic analysis of a KMS. This systematic literature review collected 54 papers for qualitative analysis. This analysis led to a synthesis of factors evident in the research and how they could be combined and collected as key categories. Once each factor was categorized, the future directions of research was analysed and documented. The primary factors discussed include (a) formal processes, (b) company culture, (c) top‐down support, (d) motivation, (e) clear goals, and (f) quality of KMS. This research has created a baseline for the further evaluation of KMSs in the real world.