To the organization, KM may result in net benefits that accrue in the form of intangible
knowledge assets that enhance the organization’s sustainable competitive advantage
and its value. As pointed out above, such intangible and long-term benefits
cannot be directly attributed to KM initiatives alone. Controlling for all the other
influences on such long-term benefits is a complex task and is deemed outside the
scope of the present study. In fact, the effect of KM perceptual outcome measures
(e.g., knowledge sharing, knowledge use) on firm performance (e.g., ROA) has not
been well studied [18, 19], in part because it is difficult to empirically establish the
link; there is an implicit assumption that desirable KM outcomes lead to desirable
firm performance outcomes.