The impact of social capital and intelectual capital on knowledge management practices in public organizations in Thailand in becoming learning organizations

Abstract

In this research on the impact of social capital, intellectual capital, and knowledge management on public organizations on being the learning organization, the objectives are 1) to study the pattern of the causal relationships among social capital, intellectual capital, and knowledge management for a public organization to be a learning organization; 2) to study the direct and indirect influences of social capital and intellectual capital and knowledge management that affect a public organization to be a learning organization; and 3) to study the problems and obstacles in making a public organization a learning one. The target population for this research is officials in public organizations in Thailand. A random sample of public organization officials was used. Four hundred officials of public organizations were targeted for this study, and the data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling analysis (SEM). The researcher also conducted a qualitative research study by conducting in-depth interviews using a method to select a specific number of key informants. Ten people were executives responsible for knowledge management and officials involved in knowledge management. The results of the study found that, first, social capital factors had the strongest relationship-oriented social capital components, and intellectual capital factors had the most human capital components, while knowledge management factors had the most knowledge storage elements. Finally, the learning organization factor had the most elements of thinking patterns. In terms of the second finding, the structural equation model was in harmony with the empirical data. The results was a chi-square = 55.775, df = 46.0, Sig = 0.153, CMIN/ df . = 1.212, GFI = 0.982, AGFI = 0.954, NFI = 0.987, IFI = 0.998, CFI = 0.998, RMR = 0.009, RMSEA = 0.023, and the research hypothesis was accepted, showing that intellectual capital has a positive effect on being a learning organization with risk management. Knowing is a passing variable. The analysis results show that intellectual capital affects being a learning organization with knowledge management being a more transferable variable than intellectual capital that directly affects the learning organization, while social capital directly affects being a learning organization rather than having knowledge management as a transmission variable. However, when comparing the direct influence of social capital and intellectual capital, it was found that intellectual capital has a more direct effect on learning organizations than social capital.