The Impact of Knowledge Management Processes on Project Success in Yemeni SMEs: A Knowledge-Based View Paper

Abstract

Introduction: Organizations of Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs) require Knowledge Management Processes (KMP) to succeed in challenging environments including Yemen.

Objectives: The research investigates the effect of KMP on Project Success (PS) within Yemeni manufacturing SMEs. The specific context of Yemeni manufacturing SMEs has insufficient research exploring the combined and separate influence of KMP dimensions Acquisition (AC), Application (AP), Sharing (SH), and Storing (ST) on PS.

Methods: Using the Knowledge-Based View (KBV) as a framework, this research conducted a study based on 355 surveys of managers who work in Yemeni manufacturing SMEs for a cross-sectional analysis. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) served as the tool to evaluate the data collected from this research. This study demonstrates that KMP, as a whole, has a positive influence on PS.

Results: The survey results established that key performance success improves by knowledge AC and knowledge SH while knowledge AP and ST generate no significant effect on performance success. The study demonstrates that Yemeni SMEs need proactive knowledge sharing with proactive expertise gathering to succeed during political instability and resource limitations.

Conclusions: Managers should emphasize knowledge acquisition and dissemination activities because study findings show these elements strongly boost PS. This leads to the recommendation of creating a knowledge sharing environment to enhance project outcomes. The study generates original findings about PS within the research gap concerning Yemeni SMEs.