Who profits from knowledge management?: a case of experience versus expertise

Although many organizations are implementing knowledge management systems (KMS), there is little empirical evidence about whether KMS use by varying levels of experience and expertise can improve individual and organization performance. In this study, we examined the impact of using a codification-based KMS on the sales performance of 1,340 sales representatives in a pharmaceutical firm. We found that KMS use was directly related to performance - the more knowledge assets that sales representatives read, the more likely they were to exceed their quota. Experience and expertise moderated this relationship. Inexperienced sales representatives who exceeded their sales quota in the previous year derived significantly greater benefit from KMS use than did other sales representatives. Experienced sales representatives who failed to reach their sales quota in the previous year derived significantly less benefit from KMS use than did other sales representatives.