International Journal of Academic Library and Information Science
 

Vol. 6(8), pp. 253–264, December, 2018. 

ISSN: 2360-7858

DOI: 10.14662/IJALIS2018.065

Full Length Research

Background: The Krobo beads making industry in Ghana performs a central role in the traditional and economic developments within rural communities, applying knowledge management models to managing beads making IK would help to halt its disappearance, preserve and protect this knowledge.

Objective: This paper sought to assess the application of knowledge management (KM) models in managing beads making indigenous knowledge (IK) in order to improve and preserve beads production activities within the Krobo communities in Ghana. This was done by assessing acquisition, sharing and preservation processes of beads making IK. The study also explored the significance of vision, the future potential of the beads making industry, ICTs, policies, legal framework, and culture in KM practices in the beads producing communities.

Method: Qualitative research design was adopted. Phenomenology strategy was used. Qualitative data was collected using semi-participant observation, semi-structured interview and focus group discussions. The study employed thematic data analysis technique. Data were extracted manually from the transcripts and summarized into various themes.

Results: The study revealed that IK was acquired and shared within socio-cultural practices that existed in the Krobo communities, and that IK was basically stored in the memory of IK holders which is aiding its disappearance. The study developed a KM model that would be applicable in regional IK management within the social-cultural context in developing countries.

Originality: The proposed KM model provides a special context and understanding of the management of indigenous knowledge in regions with rural communities in developing countries. Most of the KM models reviewed were developed based on formal organizational environment with western orientation; consequently they did not capture the needs of regions with rural communities. The proposed model therefore, makes a modest contribution to theory on KM in regions with rural communities in developing countries, and provides the relationships between KM facilitators/principles and KM processes.

Limitations/implications: The model proposed by this study for managing regional IK has not yet been tested. There is therefore, the  need to test the developed model against existing KM models, in specific regions with rural  communities in the developing world, to determine if it can  be used to explain the link between KM facilitators/principles and KM processes.

Key words: knowledge management models, Indigenous knowledge, beads making, Ghana

Cite This Article As: Agyemang, B.K. (2018). Applying knowledge management models to managing beads making indigenous knowledge in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Inter. J. Acad. Lib. Info. Sci. 6(8): 253-264