Hybrid multi-criteria decision making model for customer knowledge management in software industry

Abstract

In this study, the enablers of Customer Knowledge Management (CKM) software companies are investigated. Consequently, the conceptual CKM enabler model is developed by extracting “organizational”, “technological” and “human” factors from the literature. Then, a Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) approach is applied to identify the dependence relationships of factors by using the Analytic Network Processes (ANP) and the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) techniques. The inter-dependencies significance among the factors is evaluated by DEMATEL. ANP technique is used in order to clarify the relative significance of the factors and identify the weight and priority. The results show that the “organization” dimension is the most considerable aspect of enhancing CKM in software development. The “organization” aspect has more interaction with other aspects and activates the “technology” and “human” factors. In addition, “technology” is the second dimension that influences “human” and “organization”. Due to the importance of CKM for organizations, this research provides a significant contribution in the context of CKM by extracting and ranking the CKM antecedent factors for enterprise software development context.