Abstract:

Nowadays, due to severe competition and a globalized market, the mere utilization of knowledge management or implementation of a knowledge management system does not suffice to tackle this turbulent market. However, it comes to the “QUALITY” of the provided knowledge by entities or systems. A high standard of knowledge implies the knowledge that is not stagnant and flows in the vessels of the organization and its circulation as well as application produces new knowledge. Therefore, in order to be prosperous and face the difficulties caused by market changes, a high standard of knowledge is required. In order to examine the interdependency of knowledge quality and innovation, dimensions and requirements of knowledge quality are elaborated. Data were reaped from questionnaire issued to SMEs inside industrial parks of Tehran city and descriptive statistics, frequency statistics as well as regression analysis were applied. It is demonstrated that Iranian SMEs have a moderate level of knowledge quality. Considering the characteristic of knowledge quality, the contextual knowledge quality showed a higher relevance to knowledge quality. Amongst the requirements of knowledge quality, absorptive capacity showed a stronger connection to knowledge quality. Moreover, results showed a strong relation between knowledge quality and innovation. Finally, accessibility knowledge quality as a new characteristic of knowledge quality and also the role of knowledge quality on non-financial organizational performance are suggested for future research.