IT support in manufacturing firms for a knowledge management dynamic capability link to performance

Information technology ( IT) is applied in many settings of knowledge management ( KM) under the premise that a manufacturing organization will gain direct benefit from the investment. However, direct links from investment in IT to organizational performance have always been elusive. Strategic management research presents a concept of dynamic capabilities to model the ability of an organization to respond effectively to changes in the environment and leverage performance. By using this capability as a mediating variable, IT support of KM is shown to indirectly benefit manufacturing organizations in a sample of managers from 500 manufacturing firms in Taiwan. This link indicates firms must carefully align the IT support to strategic needs.