Purpose

In the hyper-dynamic business world of today, innovation has become the lifeblood of organizations. Knowledge management (KM) is widely considered an essential antecedent of innovation. However, very little empirical research has specifically addressed how KM is nurtured as support for innovation from a behavioral point of view. This paper aims to operationalize the characteristics of a fitting context – in terms of top management support, organizational rewards and mutual trust – and to clarify the role of organizational context on knowledge management strategies (KMS) and ultimately on firm innovativeness.

Design/methodology/approach

By studying 98 surveys from 23 companies from Technology Fast 50 list, based on using the partial least squares method, the authors find that this organizational context has a significant impact on the formulation and implementation of KMS.

Findings

Organizational/behavioral context has significant effects on the formulation and implementation of KMS as well as firm innovativeness. The results also demonstrate that the tacit KMS has a crucial impact on firm innovativeness.

Originality/value

From a behavioral perspective, this study empirically examines the role of organizational context (top management support, organizational rewards and mutual trust), KMS and firm innovativeness in a holistic manner in Turkey, a developing country. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no researcher has undergone those relationships in literature.