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Critical success factors, knowledge management, organizational learning, and financial performance in tourism SMEs

Alexander Pippi, Erose Sthapit Orcid Logo, Brian Garrod Orcid Logo, Jarno Suni, Juho Pesonen

Tourism and Hospitality Research

Swansea University Author: Brian Garrod Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1177/14673584261430770

Abstract

This study investigates which critical success factors enable knowledge management activities in tourism SMEs and how organizational learning mediates the knowledge management-financial performance relationship. Using an online survey of tourism SME managers (n=100, predominantly Finnish), we found...

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Published in: Tourism and Hospitality Research
ISSN: 1467-3584 1742-9692
Published: SAGE Publications 2026
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa71471
first_indexed 2026-02-20T09:54:48Z
last_indexed 2026-03-18T05:40:28Z
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spelling 2026-03-17T13:47:24.5962934 v2 71471 2026-02-20 Critical success factors, knowledge management, organizational learning, and financial performance in tourism SMEs 4f81981d78ed3082b232463da24d1bb9 0000-0002-5468-6816 Brian Garrod Brian Garrod true false 2026-02-20 CBAE This study investigates which critical success factors enable knowledge management activities in tourism SMEs and how organizational learning mediates the knowledge management-financial performance relationship. Using an online survey of tourism SME managers (n=100, predominantly Finnish), we found that organizational learning fully mediates the relationship between knowledge management activities and financial performance, with no direct effect observed. Human resource management emerged as the most influential critical success factor, followed by strategy, resources, and information technology, while management leadership, culture, and measurement showed no significant effects. These findings extend the knowledge-based view of the firm by establishing organizational learning as the essential mechanism through which knowledge management generates financial returns in tourism SMEs, revealing contextual specificity in critical success factors within the tourism SME context and demonstrating that simplified linear models assuming direct knowledge-performance linkages may not apply universally. Journal Article Tourism and Hospitality Research 0 SAGE Publications 1467-3584 1742-9692 knowledge management; critical success factors; organizational learning; financial performance; tourism; small- and medium-sized enterprises 3 3 2026 2026-03-03 10.1177/14673584261430770 COLLEGE NANME Management School COLLEGE CODE CBAE Swansea University Another institution paid the OA fee The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. 2026-03-17T13:47:24.5962934 2026-02-20T09:50:44.3332084 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Management - Business Management Alexander Pippi 1 Erose Sthapit 0000-0002-1650-3900 2 Brian Garrod 0000-0002-5468-6816 3 Jarno Suni 4 Juho Pesonen 5 71471__36428__3bf031f4ca654f959a2e19fa376d1542.pdf 71471.VoR.pdf 2026-03-17T13:44:14.4231836 Output 760712 application/pdf Version of Record true © The Author(s) 2026. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License. true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
title Critical success factors, knowledge management, organizational learning, and financial performance in tourism SMEs
spellingShingle Critical success factors, knowledge management, organizational learning, and financial performance in tourism SMEs
Brian Garrod
title_short Critical success factors, knowledge management, organizational learning, and financial performance in tourism SMEs
title_full Critical success factors, knowledge management, organizational learning, and financial performance in tourism SMEs
title_fullStr Critical success factors, knowledge management, organizational learning, and financial performance in tourism SMEs
title_full_unstemmed Critical success factors, knowledge management, organizational learning, and financial performance in tourism SMEs
title_sort Critical success factors, knowledge management, organizational learning, and financial performance in tourism SMEs
author_id_str_mv 4f81981d78ed3082b232463da24d1bb9
author_id_fullname_str_mv 4f81981d78ed3082b232463da24d1bb9_***_Brian Garrod
author Brian Garrod
author2 Alexander Pippi
Erose Sthapit
Brian Garrod
Jarno Suni
Juho Pesonen
format Journal article
container_title Tourism and Hospitality Research
container_volume 0
publishDate 2026
institution Swansea University
issn 1467-3584
1742-9692
doi_str_mv 10.1177/14673584261430770
publisher SAGE Publications
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Management - Business Management{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Management - Business Management
document_store_str 1
active_str 0
description This study investigates which critical success factors enable knowledge management activities in tourism SMEs and how organizational learning mediates the knowledge management-financial performance relationship. Using an online survey of tourism SME managers (n=100, predominantly Finnish), we found that organizational learning fully mediates the relationship between knowledge management activities and financial performance, with no direct effect observed. Human resource management emerged as the most influential critical success factor, followed by strategy, resources, and information technology, while management leadership, culture, and measurement showed no significant effects. These findings extend the knowledge-based view of the firm by establishing organizational learning as the essential mechanism through which knowledge management generates financial returns in tourism SMEs, revealing contextual specificity in critical success factors within the tourism SME context and demonstrating that simplified linear models assuming direct knowledge-performance linkages may not apply universally.
published_date 2026-03-03T05:34:09Z
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score 11.100184

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