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Introduction
Higher education institutions (HEIs) are considered to be knowledge-intensive organizations (Howell and Annansingh, 2013; Ramachandran et al. , 2013), knowledge-creating institutions and in the knowledge business (Rowley, 2000). They create new knowledge through research, disseminate knowledge through teaching and learning and transfer knowledge through consultancies, cross-pollination between research and business, communication, popularization of science and job creation through spin-offs (Alexandropoulou et al. , 2009; Fullwood et al. , 2013). In this article, knowledge management (KM) in HEIs is regarded as having three main strands, knowledge creation, knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer.
In a knowledge economy, KM has been recognized as one of the determining factors for innovation and competitive advantage (Darroch, 2005; Dasgupta et al. , 2009). There is evidence that KM could be important in supporting universities in their teaching, research and knowledge transfer missions, but also evidence that the approaches adopted by universities are passive and inconsistent (Donate and Canales, 2012). Cranfield and Taylor (2008) suggest that HEIs need to develop a common understanding of KM before they can begin to see the benefits on an institutional-wide level. However, research into KM in universities is limited (Alexandropoulou et al. , 2009; Fullwood et al. , 2013), and such research as has been conducted focusses either on specific aspects of the knowledge process, such as the individualistic nature of research (Tippins, 2003) and loyalty to discipline (Cronin, 2000), or on specific elements of KM, such as knowledge sharing amongst academics (Cheng et al. , 2009; Fullwood et al. , 2013), and KM in exploitation of commercialization opportunities (Eftekharzade and Mohammadi, 2011). Some studies have examined enablers and barriers to KM in HEIs in one or more areas of knowledge creation, knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer (Gera, 2012; Fullwood et al. , 2013; Ramachandran et al. , 2013). However, most of this research has been conducted in countries with mature higher education systems (e.g. UK, India, Malaysia) such that there is a knowledge gap in relation to countries with developing and aspirational higher education sectors. Furthermore, in such countries, as is the case with Mauritius, the development of a strong university sector is viewed as pivotal to the economic, social and cultural development of the country.
The purpose of this research is to...