The ISO 30401 Knowledge Management Systems: a new frame for managing knowledge. Conceptualisation and practice

The implementation of ISO Knowledge Management (KM) standard is gaining increasing attention among practitioners and scholars and it is bringing out several issues to investigate, such as reasons and ways of “standardizing” KM systems, and risks, challenges and benefits of implementing the standard. Drawing on a review of the literature on ISO standard for KM, the paper provides a conceptualisation of ISO KM standard through some conceptual and mind maps that systematise and combine the KM requirements of ISO. Such conceptualisation offers a fresh and comprehensive view of key factors, variables, and dimensions that an organisation needs to consider in order to design and implement a KM system consistent with the ISO KM standard. Moreover, based on the literature review results, the study sheds light on risks, challenges and benefits, connected to the implementation of ISO 30401 in organisations and identifies future areas of investigation.