Ralebitso Kenneth Letshaba, Kaizer Ndlovu
Abstract
Organisations in the knowledge economy rely on knowledge to develop and maintain industrial competitiveness. Hence, skills development providers (SDPs) are at the centre stage of imparting knowledge and skills to individuals and organisations. Although there is increased interest in knowledge management (KM), there is still a lack of cohesive research on the subject within the other sectors of the economy, particularly the SDPs. As a conceptual paper, the current work is based on secondary data gathered from several studies on KM conducted in South Africa. This literature review examined the numerous studies on KM in South Africa from different sectors of the economy.
The findings revealed that KM research in South Africa is still an emerging topic which requires further research. It was discovered that in some sectors, the concept of KM is not comprehended by the employees and top management. It is thus evident that KM has not been conducted within SDPs. The study therefore suggests KM policy, awareness and training to support efficient knowledge creation, acquisition, storage, sharing and application for the skills development sector in South Africa. As a result, this study emphasised the need to investigate KM in SDPs.