Volume 14, 2026: Issue 1

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Title:

Knowledge management practice conceptualisation and enactment in retail pharmacies in Namibia: Insights from a multiple case study

Author(s):

Abraham Dongo, Department of Business, Unicaf University in Malawi, Malawi

Eric E. Mang’unyi, School of Doctoral Studies, Unicaf University, Cyprus

Abstract:

This paper assessed the Knowledge Management (KM) methods used in Namibian retail pharmacies. Shortcomings in KM techniques breed inefficiencies, unsafe practices, poor standards, and high morbidity. Namibian retail pharmacies significantly lack knowledge mobilisation, consequently leading to undesirable quality of practice standards. The KM practices were qualitatively explored, with document scrutiny and semi-structured interviews providing the research data. The 10 retail pharmacies took part in the study, providing nine pharmacists and seven assistants as participants. The recorded interviews were converted into transcripts, and together with the collected documents, thematically analysed. The participants demonstrated little understanding of the KM phenomenon and participated passively. Despite engaging in KM activities, the participants did not conceptualise this as KM but rather as routine work. This study revealed the absence of KM systems in retail pharmacies to extract tacit knowledge and institutionalise it. The findings demonstrate the need to introduce robust KM systems in retail pharmacies, which can externalise tacit knowledge into organisational intellectual material. This research expands the current KM and pharmacy practice scholarship by focusing on the neglected retail pharmacy settings. The outcomes refine the present KM models and provide context-specific insights into KM practices in retail pharmacies.

Keywords:

Knowledge management, tacit knowledge, explicit knowledge, knowledge sharing, retail pharmacy, pharmacy practice

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36965/OJAKM.2026.14(1)79-102

Type:

Research paper

Journal:

The Online Journal of Applied Knowledge Management (OJAKM), ISSN: 2325-4688

Publisher:

International Institute for Applied Knowledge Management (IIAKM)

Received:

31 March 2026

Revised:

8 May, 2026; 13 May 2026; 14 May 2026

Accepted:

6 June 2026

Accepting Editor:

Meir Russ

Associate Editors:

Shauna Beaudin and Yair Levy

Pages:

79-102