Assessing the maturity of knowledge management in medical universities: A cross-sectional study in Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences

Knowledge is a strategic resource for developing services and gaining a competitive advantage, and timely evaluation of knowledge activities will be an important factor for organizational performance excellence. The aim of this study was to evaluate the level of management maturity and knowledge of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences and its effect on performance excellence.

The research method is a survey, and its type is applied. The study population included managers and staff of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences. The research was conducted in 2021. Sampling was simple stratified random sampling. The sample size was 320 people. The data collection tool was the standard questionnaire of the Asian Productivity Organization (reliability coefficient of the questionnaire: 0.83). The questionnaire consisted of seven main criteria and 46 questions. The statistical software used was SPSS version 26. ANOVA, t-test, and simple linear regression analyzed the data and tested the hypotheses.

The research showed that the university was at the level of development of knowledge management maturity with a score of 141.16. The regression results showed that the knowledge processes index with a value of 0.69 had the highest effect, and the staff index with a value of 0.67 had the lowest effect on knowledge management maturity. The value of t-statistic was significant for indicators of knowledge maturity (technology, knowledge processes, leadership, process, learning and innovation, and knowledge management results) except employees at the level of less than 0.05.

The results of data analysis proved the relationship between the Asian Productivity Organization knowledge management maturity model and performance improvement. Therefore, the mentioned model can be relied on, and the results can be generalized to the university.