Do knowledge management capabilities reduce the negative effect of environment uncertainties on organizational performance? A study of public listed companies in Malaysia

The degree of environmental uncertainty (EU) continues to affect corporate financial performance. However, utilizing knowledge management capabilities (KMC)wisely can reduce this effect. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of EU's dimensions (market, technology, competitive threat, and region specific uncertainty) on financial performance and to see whether KMC mediates between the two. Of the returned questionnaires from senior managers of public listed companies (PLCs)in Malaysia, a total of 176 were usable and analyzed using AMOS. The findings showed that, amongst the EU variables, competitive threat and technology uncertainty have significant and negative effect while, the region's specific uncertainty has significant effect too but positive on financial performance of the companies. In addition, KMC showed a full mediating role between technology uncertainty and financial performance, while only partially between competitive threats and financial performance. Companies suggested utilizingKMC to improve performance and to reduce the effect of EU. � 2017 Serials Publications Pvt. Ltd.