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Purpose
To examine the causes of knowledge management (KM) failure.
Design/methodology/approach
A multi‐case analysis approach was used to review five documented cases of KM failure in the literature. Categories of risk were identified through an iterative analysis of each case.
Findings
There are four main categories of risk associated with KM failure, namely technology risk, culture risk, content risk and project management risk. The nature of these risks differs dependent upon the stage of a KM project.
Research limitations/implications
A limited number of cases were reviewed.
Practical implications
Practitioners need to proactively manage risk to avoid failure in KM projects.
Originality/value
Proposes a taxonomy of KM risk.
© Emerald Group Publishing Limited
2005
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