Second, once all relevant issues had been specified, both authors accessed ProQuest and
looked for suitable articles. The initial search using the keywords knowledge management
and SMEs resulted in an unsatisfactory outcome in terms of the number of publications. So it
was decided to replace ‘‘knowledge management’’ by ‘‘KM’’ which in combination with
SMEs resulted in 398 hits. In order to make sure that the review included all papers from
relevant journals, the highest ranked KM journals according to Serenko and Bontis (2009)
were also included. These were the Journal of Knowledge Management, Journal of
Intellectual Capital and Knowledge Management Research and Practice. In addition, three
international ISI-journals in the field of small businesses were reviewed. These were the
International Small Business Journal, Journal of Small Business Management and
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice. The inclusion of these journals resulted in
additional 697 hits.
Third, both authors individually worked through the abstracts and, if relevant, further
sections of the articles to make sure that they actually covered the pre-defined scope. This
procedure yielded a final selection of 36 articles, which fulfilled the criteria set and thus
represented the basis for analysis.
Fourth, the 36 papers were divided among the two authors; thus each author read 18
papers. Subsequently both authors entered the relevant data regarding the research aim in
the excel sheet. Then both authors jointly went through each data entry and discussed the
content. In the case of possible reservations on the part of the author who had not read the
paper, both authors went through the paper in question. This approach helped to reduce the
danger that the analysis and thus the conclusion drawn might not be consistent.