Knowledge Management in Asian Higher Education: A Multi-Dimensional Scoping Review
, V.P Joshith, K KavithaDespite rapid digitalisation transforming Asian higher education, knowledge management (KM) implementation remains paradoxically fragmented across the region’s diverse institutional landscapes, creating critical theoretical and practical gaps that require systematic investigation.
This scoping review addresses these gaps by examining KM practices in Asian universities through a novel multi-dimensional analytical framework encompassing disciplines, practices, aspects, and stakeholder dynamics.
Following the PRISMA-ScR guidelines, we systematically reviewed 29 peer-reviewed studies (2009–2025) from Scopus and Google Scholar across nine Asian countries, highlighting both the field’s limited empirical base and emerging contours through thematic coding across four dimensions.
The study’s primary theoretical contribution is a hybrid ‘technology-mediated personalisation’ approach. This concept recontextualises Nonaka’s SECI model (a framework for converting tacit and explicit knowledge) and challenges existing KM strategy typologies. Furthermore, this paper presents the first multi-dimensional scoping review of KM practices across diverse Asian higher education contexts.
Knowledge utilisation dominates practice (48% of studies), contradicting Western literature’s emphasis on knowledge creation. Institutional management applications significantly outweigh pedagogical implementations. Robust multi-stakeholder ecosystems emerge, involving faculty, administrators, and students; yet, university-industry collaboration remains severely underdeveloped. Policy-driven implementation prevails over organic knowledge communities, reflecting distinct cultural adaptations.
Institutions should develop integrated KM frameworks balancing policy-driven governance with collaborative knowledge communities, invest in technology platforms supporting multiple KM processes, and strengthen university-industry knowledge transfer mechanisms.
Future research should focus on developing education-specific KM theoretical frameworks, conducting cross-cultural comparative studies, and investigating emerging AI-enhanced knowledge management technologies in academic contexts.
Enhanced KM practices will improve educational effectiveness, foster innovation ecosystems, and strengthen knowledge-based economic development across Asia’s rapidly evolving higher education landscape.
Critical priorities include longitudinal studies that track the evolution of KM systems, cross-cultural comparative frameworks, research on technology-enhanced knowledge creation, and sustainable university-industry collaboration models.
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