Knowledge Management Practices in the Nigerian Telecommunications Industry

Abstract

The main objective of the study was to examine how Nigerian telecommunications organizations leverage knowledge in achieving organizational performance and competitive advantage. Forty organizations were selected by using stratified random sampling from the 150 organizations in the Nigerian telecommunications industry. Twenty‐nine of the selected organizations agreed to participate in the study, and questionnaires were then distributed to 14 senior executives in each of these organizations. Four hundred and six questionnaires were returned, but only 329 complete ones were used for analysis. The results from the study showed the following: that there is poor management of human capital in the Nigerian telecommunications industry; that lack of effective communication appears to be the bane of structural capital management in the industry; that most of the telecommunications companies in Nigeria have had a long‐term relationship with their customers; and that Nigerian telecommunications organizations are familiar with knowledge management as a concept. The results also showed slight differences among the six groups of organizations in their management of intellectual capital with the Local Exchange operators and National Carrier as the best and worst performers, respectively. In conclusion, it is suggested that Nigerian telecommunications organizations should strive to provide a conducive and an enabling working environment, where people can share ideas about work without being shut down by bosses and bureaucrats, and that they should try harder to implement their customers' suggestions, especially when such suggestions have to do with meeting the customers' needs. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.