Navigating the initial stages of the pandemic using knowledge management: an integrated framework

Abstract

Knowledge management is a key driver of competitive advantage at all times. This paper explores the different knowledge management measures taken by organizations during the initial stages of the pandemic and the various knowledge resources leveraged for the same. The scope of the study is limited to the initial stages of the pandemic, when things were uncertain and most organizations were going through such a crisis for the first time. The methodology used in this paper combines three-stage thematic coding and a topic modelling algorithm. The data consist of interviews of human resource leaders and articles published in globally renowned sources. The data was collected during the initial stages of the pandemic and it reflects the thorough process during the initial stages of the pandemic. The findings indicate that firms take various short-term and long-term knowledge management measures by leveraging on several internal and external knowledge resources. The findings were analytically clustered and theoretically aggregated to develop an integrated framework for organizational navigation during the initial stages of the pandemic. The paper contributes to the literature by making a novel attempt to study the measures taken in the very early stages of the pandemic and some findings are new to the literature. Also, this paper integrates two different methodologies, which is unique to research. The integrated framework could be used by practitioners for developing a resilient knowledge management system.