Health and Safety Culture as a Competitive Advantage for Knowledge‐based Organizations: An HSEC Model Perspective

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/kpm.1540
• Date: 01 July 2017
• Published date: 01 July 2017

■Research Article

Health and Safety Culture as a

Competitive Advantage for Knowledge-

based Organizations: An HSEC Model

Perspective

Naser Hassanzadeh Firoozi*and Akram Hatami

Oulu University, Oulu Business School, Oulu, Finland

Because knowledge is increasingly considered to be a key resource for companies, organizations must create and

foster knowledge-sharing culture. A clear plan and strategy for knowledge creating, sharing it, and managing it

provides sustainable competitive advantages for knowledge-based organizations. Knowledge as an important source

of capital for an organization can only be created and managed properly and successfully in a healthy cultural

environment. The knowledge stores of organizations are in the minds of their employees, and it is through the art

of management that a climate and policy for converting this tacit and valuable knowledge into explicit knowledge

is created. This study employs the health, safety,environment, and culture (HSEC) model as a managerial tool to help

managers create a health and safety culture for creating and managing knowledge and also gain a real competitive

advantage in this highly competitive era. According to this model, knowledge-based organizations must consider

the role of cultural assessment, control risk, culturalhazards, and cultural syndromes when creatinga health and safety

culture. A successful HSEC model enables an organization to manage its complexity and uncertainty, improve

performance, create competitive advantages, and enhance its business reputation. This model will create a deep

understanding ofa health and safety culture that facilitates the interaction and conversion process and also determines

how the knowledgeprocess should be developed and managed by identifyingcultural hazards and risks. Copyright ©

2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Keywords: health and safety culture, HSEC model, cultural risks and hazards, cultural syndromes

INTRODUCTION

Knowledge as an intangible asset is considered a

competitive advantage. The process of creating

and sharing knowledge in knowledge-based organi-

zations (KBOs) is always stimulated by human in-

teractions (Nonaka et al., 2008). For this reason, the

role of organizational culture greatly determines

the success of such an endeavor and is strongly

associated with a firm’s competiveness (Lai & Lee,

2007). According to Rivera-Vazquez et al. (2009),

the knowledge production and sharing process is

heavily influenced by organizational culture.

According to Hendriks (2004), while some

scholars consider the culture of a particular organi-

zation as a potential barrier to knowledge sharing

and development (De Long & Fahey, 2000;

McDermott & O’Dell, 2001), many others discuss

the ideal role of culture when it comes to valuing

and managing knowledge. The knowledge culture

(Banks, 1999; Bonaventura, 1997; Smith, 2003), the

sharing culture(Comeau-Kirchner,2000; Damodaran

& Olphert, 2000; Davenport et al., 1998; Neef, 1999),

the knowledge-centered culture (Janz &

Prasarnphanich, 2003), and the knowledge-friendly

culture (Davenport et al., 1998) are all important

themes that prove the significant role of culture in

the knowledge creation and sharing process.

As Moffett et al. (2002) assert, there is a need to re-

solve the relationship between the cultural and tech-

nological aspects of knowledge management (KM)

*Correspondence to: Naser Hassanzadeh Firoozi, Oulu Univer-

sity, Oulu Business School, P.O. BOX 4600, Oulu, Finland, 90014.

E-mail: nh.firoozi@yahoo.com

Knowledge and Process Management

Volume 24 Number 3 pp 188–195 (2017)

Published online 20 March 2017 in Wiley Online Library

(www.wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/kpm.1540

Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.