Sustainable Strategic Knowledge Management in the Era of AI

Closes:
Journal
Journal of Strategy and Management
Guest editor(s)
Professor Krishna Venkitachalam, Professor Nina Helander,

Introduction

Shifting geo-political, economic, health, and technological factors (Narayanan et al., 2021) are some of the reasons for volatility, uncertainty, and knowledge gaps in today’s organizations. Abbas and Sağsan (2019) suggest knowledge management processes are essential for sustainability across organizational value chains in complex environments. A sustainable strategic knowledge approach is crucial in complex organizational environments, where managers should prioritize enhancing their organizational knowledge strategically to comprehend management of their organizations in a sustainable and intelligent manner (Grant, 1996; Drucker, 1999; Dragicevic et al., 2019; Abbas and Sağsan, 2019; Martins et al. 2019).

Just as sustainability stresses sensible natural resource use, a sustainable knowledge-based organization concentrates on the efficient use of its intellectual assets: its employees’ combined knowledge, skills, experiences, and expertise. Jarrahi et al. (2023) have argued that understanding of human-AI synergy is key to using intelligent knowledge responsibly. By blending human intellect and AI, smart knowledge systems improve problem-solving, data analysis, and decision-making (Jarrahi et al., 2023). AI leverages vast codified knowledge to identify patterns and opportunities, optimizing resource use, minimizing waste, and streamlining supply chains. It also affects the critical knowledge management processes in organizations (Nakash and Bolisani, 2025).  However, despite the potential benefits of AI, there are also many challenges associated with AI (Mikalef et al., 2022). To make use of AI in responsible and sustainable way, we need smart strategic knowledge that is ethical, profitable, and mission aligned. This also looks at how society and the environment could be affected by new products, services, and methods.

By incorporating knowledge management and sustainability, the role of knowledge in sustainable organizations can be understood (Abbas and Sağsan, 2019; Martins et al., 2019). Through this all-encompassing strategy, a company can ethically and successfully leverage its strategic knowledge for financial, social, and ecological benefits. For long-term value, a sustainable knowledge-based organization must consider economic, ecological, and societal objectives (Martins et al., 2019). Moreover, it acknowledges that sustainable, strategically intelligent knowledge is essential to achieve these goals. AI-based intelligent knowledge enables organizations to respond to an intricate and unpredictable world. With knowledge and technology, an organization can adapt to market shifts, rules, and social needs of the constantly shifting economic environment. Venkitachalam and Willmott (2017) and others (Venkitachalam and Willmott, 2016) have stated that management of explicit and tacit knowledge must be pursued simultaneously; and backs the need for managers to consistently prioritize strategic KM for better organizational knowledge management, given the evolving digital landscape (Venkitachalam and Schiuma, 2022). Alternatively, organizations risk major resource waste and ineffective KM activities resulting in unsustainable environments.

Beyond organizational environment changes, multi-polarity, human capital movement, remote work, and automation have influenced knowledge management. As a result, organizations gain from creating, codifying, and transferring knowledge, but they also miss out due to knowledge loss, duplication, and wasted resources. In the same vein, organizations may struggle with digital and intelligent knowledge overload due to AI, cloud computing, and big data growth (Känsäkoski, 2017; Trevino et al., 2021; Jarrahi et al., 2023) going forward. Sustainable strategic knowledge management is essential to solving the intelligent knowledge overload problem in organizations. To sustain and manage AI-generated intelligent knowledge along with human knowledge, organizations should use codification and personalization knowledge approaches, focusing on strategic, understandable and valuable knowledge. For a more detailed look at the growing importance of sustainable strategic knowledge management in organizations in an AI landscape, this special issue invites contributions in these areas:

Key literature references:

  • Abbas J and Sağsan M. (2019). Impact of knowledge management practices on green innovation and corporate sustainable development: A structural analysis. Journal of Cleaner Production 229: 611-620.
  • Drucker P. (1999). Knowledge-Worker productivity: The biggest challenge. California Management Review 41(2): 79-94.
  • Dragicevic N, Ullrich A, Tsui E and Gronau N. (2020). A conceptual model of knowledge dynamics in the industry 4.0 smart grid scenario. Knowledge Management Research and Practice 18(2): 199-213.
  • Jarrahi MH, Askay D, Eshraghi A, Smith P. (2023). Artificial intelligence and knowledge management: A partnership between human and AI. Business Horizons 66(1): 87-99.
  • Martins VB, Rampasso IS, Anholon R, Quelhas OG and Leal FW. (2019). Knowledge management in the context of sustainability: Literature review and opportunities for future research. Journal of Cleaner Production 229: 489-500.
  • Mikalef, P, Conboy, K, Lundström, JE and Popovič, A. (2022). Thinking responsibly about responsible AI and ‘the dark side’of AI. European Journal of Information Systems, 31(3), 257-268.
  • Nakash, M and Bolisani, E (2025). The transformative impact of AI on knowledge management processes. Business Process Management Journal, 31(8), 124-147.
  • Narayanan V, Wokutch RE, Ghobadian A and O'Regan N. (2021). Toward a strategic approach to studying COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Strategy and Management 14(3): 285-299.
  • Treviño T. Morton F and Zapata-Cantu L. (2021). Managing digital workplace communications to maximise knowledge transfer: a collaborator’s perspective. International Journal of Knowledge Management Studies 12(2): 114-135.
  • Känsäkoski H. (2017). Information and knowledge processes as a knowledge management framework in health care: Towards shared decision making. Journal of Documentation 73(4): 748-766.
  • Venkitachalam K and Willmott H. (2016). Determining strategic shifts between codification and personalization in operational environments. Journal of Strategy and Management 9(1), 2-14.
  • Venkitachalam K and Willmott H. (2017). Strategic knowledge management - Insights and pitfalls. International Journal of Information Management 37(4): 313-316.
  • Venkitachalam K and Schiuma G. (2022). Strategic knowledge management (SKM) in the digital age – Insights and possible research directions. Journal of Strategy and Management 15(2): 169-174

Submissions Information

Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available at: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jsma

Author guidelines must be strictly followed. Please see: https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/journal/jsma

Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to “Please select the issue you are submitting to”.

Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.

Key Deadlines

Opening date for manuscripts submissions: 01/08/2026

Closing date for manuscripts submission: 31/10/2026