{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,24]],"date-time":"2026-02-24T17:46:02Z","timestamp":1771955162831,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":20,"publisher":"Emerald","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2005,6,1]],"date-time":"2005-06-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1117584000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/site-policies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2005,6,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Purpose<\/jats:title><jats:p><jats:italic>Knowledge management in South Africa is still a very new field of management and knowledge managers are experiencing difficulties with the added dimension of multiculturalism. The history of South Africa, along with its current focus on cultural equality, complicates the matter. This research seeks to look at the challenges facing knowledge managers in a multicultural South African corporate environment.<\/jats:italic><\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Design\/methodology\/approach<\/jats:title><jats:p><jats:italic>An exploratory study, using in\u2010depth interviewing and a focus group as information collection methods, was launched to explore South African knowledge\u2010management practices in a cross\u2010section of companies in the economy.<\/jats:italic><\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Findings<\/jats:title><jats:p><jats:italic>Results showed that companies were afraid to acknowledge cultural differences because of major cultural sensitivity and, as a result, corporate culture was seen as the great equaliser of cultural exchanges. Knowledge managers, along with top management's support, must rather create a cooperative knowledge\u2010sharing environment in which South Africa's diverse cultures can interact, learn from one another and innovate.<\/jats:italic><\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Research limitations\/implications<\/jats:title><jats:p><jats:italic>Serves as a pilot study that aims to explore new territory. From this explorative research, a new and extensive study of the contributing factors should be conducted. This study does not proclaim to be representative of all companies, as only a cross\u2010section of the South African corporate market was targeted for participation.<\/jats:italic><\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Practical implications<\/jats:title><jats:p><jats:italic>Company management and knowledge workers will see the necessity of incorporating different approaches to knowledge\u2010management implementation to suit individual needs.<\/jats:italic><\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Originality\/value<\/jats:title><jats:p><jats:italic>Very little research has been done on this subject from a South African corporate\u2010environment perspective. These researchers hope to make knowledge workers more sensitive to the influence of multiculturalism on potential implementation of a knowledge\u2010management strategy.<\/jats:italic><\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1108\/13673270510602827","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2005,5,31]],"date-time":"2005-05-31T20:02:59Z","timestamp":1117569779000},"page":"128-141","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":39,"title":["Corporate South Africa: making multicultural knowledge sharing work"],"prefix":"10.1108","volume":"9","author":[{"given":"Nicozaan","family":"Finestone","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Retha","family":"Snyman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"140","reference":[{"key":"key2022020320484053300_b1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Appelbaum, S., Shapiro, B. and Elbaz, D. (1998), \u201cThe management of multicultural group conflict\u201d, Team Performance Management, Vol. 4 No. 5, pp. 211\u201034.","DOI":"10.1108\/13527599810234173"},{"key":"key2022020320484053300_b2","unstructured":"Choo, C.W. (1998), The Knowing Organization: How Organizations Use Information to Construct Meaning, Create Knowledge, and Make Decisions, Oxford University Press, New York, NY."},{"key":"key2022020320484053300_b3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Dixon, N.M. (2000), Common Knowledge: How Companies Thrive by Sharing What They Know, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.","DOI":"10.1145\/334482.334491"},{"key":"key2022020320484053300_b4","unstructured":"Du Toit, Z.B. (2002), \u201cStudie toon erge gevolge van \u2018regstel\u2019\u201d, Beeld, 11 November."},{"key":"key2022020320484053300_b5","unstructured":"Godbout, A.J. (1996), \u201cInformation vs knowledge\u201d, available at: www.3\u2010cities.com\/\u223c\u2009bonewman\/ajg\u2010002.htm."},{"key":"key2022020320484053300_b6","unstructured":"Holden, N.J. (2002), Cross\u2010cultural Management: A Knowledge Management Perspective, Financial Times\/Prentice\u2010Hall, London."},{"key":"key2022020320484053300_b7","unstructured":"Kotter, J.P. and Heskett, J.L. (1992), Corporate Culture and Performance, The Free Press, New York, NY."},{"key":"key2022020320484053300_b8","unstructured":"Norris, B. (1997), \u201cManaging cultural diversity within higher education: a South African perspective\u201d, available at: www.immi.se\/intercultural\/nr3\/norris.htm."},{"key":"key2022020320484053300_b9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ocholla, D.N. (2002), \u201cDiversity in the library and information workplace: a South African perspective\u201d, Library Management, Vol. 23 Nos 1\/2, pp. 59\u201067.","DOI":"10.1108\/01435120210413850"},{"key":"key2022020320484053300_b10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ponelis, S. and Fairer\u2010Wessels, F.A. (1998), \u201cKnowledge management: a literature overview\u201d, South African Journal of Library and Information Science, Vol. 66 No. 1, pp. 1\u20109.","DOI":"10.7553\/66-1-1449"},{"key":"key2022020320484053300_b11","unstructured":"Prime, N. (1999), \u201cCross\u2010cultural management in South Africa: problems, obstacles, and solutions in companies\u201d, available at: www.marketing.byu.edu\/htmlpages\/ccrs\/proceedings99\/prime.htm."},{"key":"key2022020320484053300_b12","unstructured":"Puth, G. (2002), The Communicating Leader, 2nd ed., Van Schaik Publishers, Pretoria."},{"key":"key2022020320484053300_b13","unstructured":"South African Government (1998), Employment Equity Act No. 55 of 1998, available at: www.polity.org.za\/govdocs\/legislation."},{"key":"key2022020320484053300_b14","unstructured":"South African Government (2002), Census 2002, available at: www.statssa.gov.za."},{"key":"key2022020320484053300_b15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sveiby, K.\u2010E. (2000), \u201cA knowledge\u2010based theory of the firm to guide strategy formulation\u201d, available at: www.sveiby.com.au\/knowledgetheoryoffirm.htm.","DOI":"10.1108\/14691930110409651"},{"key":"key2022020320484053300_b16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Thomas, A. and Bendixen, M. (2000), \u201cThe management implications of ethnicity in South Africa\u201d, Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 31 No. 3, pp. 507\u201019.","DOI":"10.1057\/palgrave.jibs.8490919"},{"key":"key2022020320484053300_b17","unstructured":"Thomas, D.A. and Ely, R.J. (1996), \u201cMaking differences matter: a new paradigm for managing diversity\u201d, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 74 No. 5, pp. 79\u201090."},{"key":"key2022020320484053300_b18","unstructured":"Van Tonder, J. (2002), \u201cBetrek blanke mans, vroue vir ekonomie met woema\u201d, Rapport, 10 November."},{"key":"key2022020320484053300_b19","unstructured":"Von Hippel, E., Thomke, S. and Sonnack, M. (1999), \u201cCreating breakthroughs at 3M\u201d, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 77 No. 5, pp. 47\u201057."},{"key":"key2022020320484053300_b20","unstructured":"White, R.D. (1999), \u201cManaging the diverse organisation: the imperative for a new multicultural paradigm\u201d, available at: www.pamji.com\/99_4_4_white.html."}],"container-title":["Journal of Knowledge Management"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"http:\/\/www.emeraldinsight.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1108\/13673270510602827","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/content\/doi\/10.1108\/13673270510602827\/full\/xml","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/content\/doi\/10.1108\/13673270510602827\/full\/html","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,25]],"date-time":"2025-07-25T00:10:52Z","timestamp":1753402252000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"http:\/\/www.emerald.com\/jkm\/article\/9\/3\/128-141\/261794"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2005,6,1]]},"references-count":20,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2005,6,1]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1108\/13673270510602827"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1108\/13673270510602827","relation":{},"ISSN":["1367-3270"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1367-3270","type":"print"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2005,6,1]]}}}