Developing personal knowledge management competency for knowledge acquisition

This study examines the relationship between personal knowledge management competency of pre-service teachers and their perception on knowledge acquisition. A self development questionnaire was developed to collect data from a cross sectional survey. 225 pre-service teachers from the Hong Kong Institute of Education participated in the survey. Structural equation model was applied to explore the predictive power of PKM competency on their knowledge acquisition for teaching. Result shows that a four-factors PKM model is identified which consists of retrieving, organizing, analyzing and collaboration skills. Pre-service teacher PKM competency was identified to be a predictor for knowledge acquisition. To cope with the teaching requirements of the education reform in Hong Kong, incorporation of PKM skills in teacher education curriculum is recommended to teacher education institutes for enhancing pre-service teacher PKM competency. This study validates an empirical PKM model for predicting knowledge acquisition by developing an instrument with validity and reliability.