EMPIRICAL TESTING OF THE HYPOTHESIS

Once we have confirmed the measurement model, we proceed to analyze the causal relationships between the variables. We followed the typical phases of specification, identification, estimation, and interpretation.

The specification phase consists of establishing dependence relations between variables according to theoretical reasoning, in other words, to convert the theoretical hypothesis in an equation system. This research considers the implantation of a KM system as an exogenous latent variable. There are two endogenous variables: knowledge distinctive competences and firm performance. We developed two structural models to test the hypothesis. The complete causal model is shown in Figure 1.