The Empirical Study

As part of a study to investigate how information technology infrastructure generally affects knowledge management efforts of research organizations in sub-Saharan Africa, we conducted a multiple case study (Yin, 1994) using six different organizations in two countries in sub-Saharan Africa (Okunoye and Karsten, 2001). Three of the organizations are international: International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Nigeria, Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratories, and International Trypanotolerance Center in The Gambia. Three are national: National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) in The Gambia, Nigeria Institute of Social Economic Research (NISER) and Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) in Nigeria.

The national organizations are primarily dependent on the national government for their basic funding. Usually the international organizations enjoy supports from various sources around the world. They have a substantial number of expatriates working in them and have better support for the IT. The multiple-case study was conducted between January and March 2001. We interviewed, observed and presented questionnaires to research scientists, management staff, librarian, and IT staffs on knowledge management and use of ICTs. We interviewed the head of IT where applicable and the people responsible for IT department. KM was evaluated using the knowledge management diagnostic (KMD) created by Bukowitz and Williams (1999) and ITI was assessed using the approach developed by Broadbent and Weill (1997) where IT infrastructure is linked to the business by maxims, which reflect the company's strategic context. The KM assessment and ITI capability has been fully described in Okunoye and Karsten (2002).