Structured Knowledge Quality for Reliable Intelligence in the Post-Truth Era
TL;DR
By clarifying the transition from organised information to prioritised intelligence, the paper extends DIKIW within KM theory to address contemporary challenges of information instability and shows how structured quality regulation stabilises explicit knowledge repositories and supports more coherent internalisation and organisational learning.
Abstract
Organisations continue to invest in Agentic AI and advanced analytics, yet the conversion of extensive knowledge resources into sustained innovation remains uneven. This difficulty is amplified in the post-truth era, where misinformation, synthetic content, and algorithmic hallucinations undermine information reliability. Within Knowledge Management (KM) research, substantial attention has been given to knowledge creation, sharing, and organisational learning. Less attention has been paid to the structured regulation of knowledge quality as a necessary condition for dependable intelligence production. This paper argues that innovation in digitally mediated environments depends not simply on knowledge availability, but on disciplined management of knowledge quality across the data-information-knowledge-intelligence-wisdom (DIKIW) continuum. The study is grounded in a pragmatist philosophy and adopts an abductive Design Science Research approach, supported by a Systematic Literature Review. It develops a model that links structured knowledge quality to organisational intelligence production. The model comprises three interconnected elements. The first element is a foundational knowledge infrastructure governing data and information organisation. The second element is explicit knowledge quality criteria - validity, authenticity, reliability, currency, and sufficiency, intended to safeguard epistemic integrity. The third element is a structured mechanism for transforming validated knowledge into prioritised organisational intelligence relevant to both human decision-makers and Agentic AI. By clarifying the transition from organised information to prioritised intelligence, the paper extends DIKIW within KM theory to address contemporary challenges of information instability. It shows how structured quality regulation stabilises explicit knowledge repositories and supports more coherent internalisation and organisational learning. Innovation is therefore understood as contingent upon epistemic governance rather than technological capability alone. The paper contributes by conceptualising structured knowledge quality as a distinct KM capability, articulating a formalised pathway between KM and organisational intelligence, and offering a design-oriented framework derived through abductive movement between the reviewed literature, established KM theory and the identified organisational problem.