Impact of Knowledge Management Practices on Job Satisfaction and Employee Retention in Banking and IT Industries in Sri Lanka

Knowledge has become a fundamental asset whose successful application helps organizations to remain competitive while delivering creative products and services. Knowledge intensive firms are organizations that employ highly qualified professionals as the majority and the employees in these organizations are mainly engaged in knowledge intensive activities. IT and Banking industries have been identified as knowledge intensive industries following these conditions and they have been implementing different practices to manage knowledge. However, IT and banking industries are experiencing a high turnover rate. This study aims to identify how the use of knowledge management practices contributes towards employee retention in IT and banking industries. Quantitative approach was used for the research. The sample size was 179, comprising of 97 from IT industry and 82 from banking industry. The data was gathered using a structured questionnaire. There is a strong positive relationship between knowledge management practices and employee satisfaction and employee intention of retention. The study showed that the adoption of knowledge management practices in IT industry is higher than the banking industry. It found that the impact of knowledge management practices on employee retention is slightly higher in IT industry than banking industry. This concludes that, the impact of knowledge management practices on employee retention depends on the industry and retention is high when the adoption of knowledge management practices is high. The results give insights to policy makers and managers of IT and banking industries in developing knowledge management practices.