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

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, cultural hazards, and cultural syndromes when creating a 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 of a health and safety culture that facilitates the interaction and conversion process and also determines how the knowledge process should be developed and managed by identifying cultural hazards and risks. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.