Knowledge Management Skills in the Agentic Era: Insights from Knowledge Management Academics

Abstract

The agentic era has arrived, marking a shift from passive generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) systems to autonomous AI systems which possess the ability to act on behalf of the user.  The increased autonomy, rapid decision-making, and the growing presence of intelligent and self-directed systems, that is characteristic of the agentic era, has implications on how various functions within an organisation operate. One of these functions is knowledge management (KM). As knowledge work becomes more distributed, dynamic, and augmented by agentic technologies, traditional knowledge management skill sets need to be adapted. However, the specific knowledge management skills required for knowledge management practitioners to operate effectively in this agentic landscape remain underdefined. In a bid to address this gap, this study explores the perceptions of experienced knowledge management academics, towards knowledge management in the agentic era and the skill set required to operate effectively in the agentic landscape. This study adopted an exploratory qualitative design with asynchronous interviews selected as the data collection instrument. Asynchronous interviews were chosen as they allow for reflective engagement with the abstract and emerging notion of agency in the practice of knowledge management.  The study employed a purposive sample of academics with recognised expertise in knowledge management. The interview data was analysed using thematic analysis to identify key skill domains and perspectives regarding knowledge management in the agentic era. The overall contribution of this study is to the emerging body of knowledge management literature on the agentic era by identifying the skills and competencies that knowledge management practitioners require to remain effective in increasingly AI-enabled organisational environments.