Title: Creating an innovation culture through knowledge management: the Greek firms

Authors: Panagiotis Kyriazopoulos, Irene Samanta

Addresses: Business Administration, Graduate Technological Education Institute of Piraeus, 250 Thivon Ave, 12244 Athens, Greece. ' Business Administration, Graduate Technological Education Institute of Piraeus, 250 Thivon Ave, 12244 Athens, Greece

Abstract: Knowledge Management (KM) has attracted much attention in the business world since the introduction of the concept by Davenport and Prusak (2000). They acknowledged that the essence of managing knowledge within organisations in a changing contemporary business environment calls for an active engagement with KM initiatives. This study investigates the theoretical underpinnings of innovation theory and concepts and applies these to the investigation of the level of innovation culture and knowledge sharing in Greek firms from a number of aspects, including innovation culture, roles, structure, teamwork and leadership creativity. The key findings were that successful innovators had adopted a culture based on innovation, had management support for innovation, were aware of the relationship between innovation and strategic planning and worked in a place where employees| contributions to innovation were recognised and rewarded.

Keywords: knowledge management; innovation culture; motivation; roles; organisational structure; teamwork; leadership creativity; Greece; knowledge sharing; management support; strategic planning; recognition; rewards.

DOI: 10.1504/IJKL.2009.024548

International Journal of Knowledge and Learning, 2009 Vol.5 No.1, pp.81 - 95

Published online: 09 Apr 2009 *

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