Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing cambridge.org/aie Research Article Cite this article: Tounkara T (2019). A framework to analyze knowledge management system adoption through the lens of organizational culture. Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing 1–12. https://doi.org/ 10.1017/S089006041900009X Received: 28 July 2018 Accepted: 30 October 2018 Key words: Information system; knowledge management; knowledge management system; organizational culture; technology adoption Author for correspondence: Thierno Tounkara, E-mail: thierno.tounkara@ imt-bs.eu © Cambridge University Press 2019 A framework to analyze knowledge management system adoption through the lens of organizational culture Thierno Tounkara LITEM, Univ Evry, IMT-BS, Université Paris-Saclay, 91025, Evry, France Abstract Although, the knowledge management (KM)-culture research has helped to validate the importance of cultural values for companies’ KM initiatives and provided insights into some important values, it still lacks frameworks and analysis outlining how specific types of cultural values might relate to Knowledge Management system (KMS) adoption and sub- sequent outcomes. In this paper, we provide a three-dimensional framework to help managers articulate how culture affects their unit’s ability to create, transfer, and apply knowledge through KMS use. To illustratethe application of the framework, we also present an explora- tory case study we have performed in an international organization in the area of development assistance and capacity development. Introduction The importance of knowledge as a critical resource for innovation has encouraged knowledge- based organizations to pay greater attention to their knowledge management (KM) strategies. Information systems play an important role in the implementation of such strategies. They act as knowledge flow facilitators and can be used to encourage KM creation, transfer, and appli- cation (Liebowitz, 2008). From a technology perspective, a knowledge management system (KMS) strategy can be seen as the choice of a set of specific information system functionalities (and associated organizational rules) in order to support KM activities (knowledge creation, transfer, and application). Prior research has shown that successful use of information system functionalities to sup- port KM activities is not only influenced by technical factors, but also by “less rational but highly influential” factors such as the organizational culture (OC) context (Alavi et al., 2006; Leonardi and Treem, 2012; Dulipovici and Robey, 2013; Wiewiora et al.,. 2013). Various studies suggest that OC context shapes employees’ KM behaviors and the way they consider KMS to support organizational KM processes (De Long and Fahey, 2000; Gray and Densten, 2005; Alavi et al., 2006). However, few studies have attempted to investigate how OC might be associated with the KMS functionality choices to support knowledge creat- ing, transfer, and application. Organizations frequently possess KM tools which have the potential to become important KM enablers if they fit in to their current OC. We state that having a framework to analyze the effective use of KMS functionalities through the lens of OC would help organizations to make their organizational KM initiatives more efficient. By using the above as a base, we define the following research question to guide our work: how can we help an organization to articulate OC, the effective use of its KMS, and KM outcomes? In this paper, we propose a three-dimensional OC framework to identify, understand, and structure the different patterns of the KMS use in an organization. We also present a case study which illustrates the application of the framework in the area of development assistance and capacity development. Background KMS and organizational KM processes KMS provides the necessary infrastructure for organizations to implement organizational KM processes (knowledge creation, transfer, and application) (Alavi and Leidner, 2001). Many models to support organizational KM processes have been proposed (Wiig, 1993; Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995; Szulanski, 1996; McElroy, 1999; Zack 1999; Dalkir, 2011; Harrison and Hu, 2012). Rodriguez-Elias et al.(2008) have made a relevant synthesis of KM’s main activities involved in organizational KM processes with the two perspectives of tacit and explicit knowledge: