Int. J. Knowledge and Learning, Vol. 8, Nos.

3/4, 2012 313

Knowledge management and e-learning in higher

education: a research study based on students’
perceptions

Darko Dukić*
Department of Physics,
Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek,
Trg Ljudevita Gaja 6, 31000 Osijek, Croatia
E-mail: darko.dukic@fizika.unios.hr
*Corresponding author

Gordana Dukić
Department of Information Sciences,
Faculty of Philosophy,
Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek,
Lorenza Jägera 9, 31000 Osijek, Croatia
E-mail: gdukic@ffos.hr

Kay I. Penny
School of Accounting, Economics and Statistics,
Edinburgh Napier University,
Craiglockhart Campus, Edinburgh, EH14 1DJ, UK
E-mail: k.penny@napier.ac.uk

Abstract: In order to achieve economic and social progress, it is particularly

important to incorporate knowledge management into the education system.
E-learning as a knowledge transfer tool is closely connected to knowledge
management. This article examined the information and communication
technology (ICT) competencies of Croatian and Scottish students to participate
in knowledge transfer activities, as well as their perceptions of e-learning. The
results of this study confirmed assumptions about differences in ICT usage and
e-learning perceptions between students from the two countries, indicating a
more favourable position for Scottish students. The results presented have a
wider use, since the instrument developed can be used both for the analysis of
differences between any two countries (educational systems), and in the context
of multilateral analysis.

Keywords: knowledge management; e-learning; higher education; students’

perceptions; information and communication technology; ICT; knowledge
transfer activities; statistical analysis.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Dukić, D., Dukić, G. and
Penny, K.I. (2012) ‘Knowledge management and e-learning in higher
education: a research study based on students’ perceptions’, Int. J. Knowledge
and Learning, Vol. 8, Nos. 3/4, pp.313–327.

Copyright © 2012 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

314 D. Dukić et al.

Biographical notes: Darko Dukić is an Assistant Professor in the field of

information and communication sciences in the Department of Physics at the
Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Croatia. He received his MSc and
PhD at the same university. He is author or co-author of more than 50 scientific
papers published in international journals and presented at international
conferences. In addition, he has reviewed many articles for scientific journals
and conferences, and chaired thematic sessions at various meetings. Over the
past few years, he has worked on several scientific research projects. His
research interests include information technology implementation and adoption,
e-learning, management information systems, simulation models, statistics and
data mining.

Gordana Dukić is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Philosophy at the

Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Croatia. She received her MSc
and PhD at the same university. Her research interests include management and
organisation, knowledge management, library management, distance education,
statistics, decision support systems and quantitative methods. On these topics,
she has published more than 50 peer-reviewed articles in international journals,
conference proceedings, and book chapters. She has worked on several
scientific projects, whose results were presented at various national and
international conferences.

Kay I. Penny studied at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland at both

undergraduate and postgraduate level, and was awarded a PhD in 1995. Since
1999, she has held the post of Lecturer at Edinburgh Napier University in
Edinburgh, Scotland, and has previously held posts at the University of
Aberdeen (1995–1997) and Edinburgh University (1997–1999). Her research
interests include applied statistics, survey methods, technology-enhanced
learning, data mining and missing data imputation methods.

1 Introduction

Information and knowledge have become primary resources of modern society. Today,
organisations must be able to learn quickly and promptly in order to adapt to new
challenges. This is the only way to sustain and grow in a dynamic and complex
environment. Therefore, it is crucial that various types of organisations participate in
knowledge management and e-learning as key activities in order to succeed.
Now more than ever, the education system has to provide students with the
knowledge and skills necessary for life and work in a rapidly changing environment. The
traditional education system does not meet the requirements of an information and
knowledge society. Educational institutions should be transformed into learning
organisations in order to respond to these challenges. Knowledge management and
e-learning can help schools and universities to achieve this goal. The aim of this study
was to explore ICT usage in Croatian and Scottish university students as a prerequisite to
participating in knowledge transfer activities. Furthermore, the purpose of this research
study was to examine students’ perceptions of e-learning. In this way, we intend to
determine to what extent the concept of knowledge management and e-learning is a
reality in Croatian and Scottish higher education. More precisely, our main goal was to
compare the achievements in implementing these important concepts in the two countries
through analysis of students’ perceptions. With the intention to achieve research goals we
 Knowledge management and e-learning in higher education 315

used questionnaire surveys. The data were analysed by the methods of descriptive and
inferential statistics. Although focusing on two countries, this work has a wider
application, since the instrument developed can be used both for the analysis of
differences between any two countries, i.e., educational systems, and in context of
multilateral analysis.
The Republic of Croatia and Scotland, as a part of the UK, are two European
countries, each with their own unique history and different social, cultural and political
traditions. Croatia belongs to the group of emerging and developing economies, while
Scotland is a developed country. The Scottish economy is much stronger than in Croatia,
which has a direct impact on education system functioning. Scottish education is
recognised throughout the world, and as such represents an important part of service
sector exports, while Croatian education is going through the process of reform and
reorganisation, with an aim to increase the competitiveness and quality. The recent
financial crisis has strongly affected both countries, resulting in numerous problems for
their education systems. Taking into consideration the actual situation and existing
conditions, it is assumed that knowledge management and e-learning are more adopted
and developed in Scotland. The results confirmed this assumption. According to our
research and analysis, Scottish students are better equipped with ICT than their Croatian
peers. They also use a computer and internet more for education and information
purposes and view e-learning more positively. From this it may be concluded that
Scottish students are better prepared for participation in the knowledge management
process and e-learning activities.

2 Knowledge management and e-learning

Knowledge has been documented for millennia, but knowledge management emerged
as a scientific discipline only quite recently. The intensive research on knowledge
management started in the 1990s (Baskerville and Dulipovici, 2006; Dömeová, 2008;
Tuomi, 2002; Wiig, 1997), and has been developed within the business area, because of
efforts for improving organisation performance through the synergy of people, processes
and technology (Prusak, 2001; Xu and Wang, 2006). In recent years, managers have
shown an increased interest in knowledge management, as they have recognised a
marked shift in the economy, from natural resources to intellectual assets (Perrott, 2007).
Knowledge management is based on the assumption that knowledge is the most
valuable resource of an organisation. According to Davis (as cited in Montana, 2000),
knowledge management involves systematic and innovative methods, practices, tools for
managing the generation, acquisition, exchange, protection, distribution, and utilisation of
knowledge, intellectual capital and intangible assets. Knowledge management is often
viewed as a necessity for innovation, since the learning of individuals and organisations
by creating, exchanging and using knowledge, is feasible.
Knowledge management is a term applied to the techniques used for the systematic
collection, transfer, security, and management of information within organisations, along
with systems designed to assist the optimal use of that knowledge (Kettunen et al., 2009).
In this sense, knowledge management can also be described as comprising multiple
dimensions including strategy, communities of practice, help desks, capture, storage, and
dissemination of knowledge, taxonomies, quality assurance, authentication procedures,
budget incentives, and knowledge measures (Denning, 2000). Knowledge management is
316 D. Dukić et al.

a multidisciplinary field. Largely, it is a result of three basic trends: the increasing

amount of digitised information, the globalisation of business, and the growing
complexity of modern business that requires timely and adequate information in order to
ensure accountability and to reduce the risk of mistakes (Guptill, 2005). There is a
particularly strong relationship between ICT and knowledge management. Advances in
ICT have had an enormous impact on all society, resulting in the ease of transmission and
creation of information. This process has led to an information explosion, and the
development of the field of knowledge management. Today, ICT has the potential to
make most efficient use of knowledge; in sourcing and bringing together necessary
information in order to be productive and creative.
E-learning is a knowledge transfer tool, and thus tightly connected to knowledge
management. De Meo et al. (2007) define e-learning as the activity that supports a
learning experience by either developing or applying ICT. According to Naidu (2006),
e-learning is commonly referred to as the intentional use of networked ICT in teaching
and learning. Although e-learning refers to the use of any electronic media for
information delivery, it is undoubtedly the case that web technologies have made
e-learning widely accepted by educational institutions and firms. In this context, Lee
et al. (2009) considered e-learning as web-based learning which utilises web-based
communication, collaboration, multimedia, knowledge transfer, and training to support
learners’ active learning without the time and space barriers.
Knowledge management is not e-learning, but we cannot make an absolute distinction
between these two concepts. The synergy between knowledge management and
e-learning is necessary to provide efficiency of higher education institutions. In
e-learning, information and knowledge may be transferred without time and space
limitation. Knowledge management tools can help in acquiring, organising and delivering
such knowledge within a higher education system. It can also be used to quickly identify
the relevant knowledge and distribute it to meet the specific needs of students. According
to Sammour et al. (2008), the use of knowledge management in e-learning will impact the
quality of the education that is delivered and the deliverability of information through
knowledge and information sharing.
Knowledge management and e-learning both attempt to improve construction,
preservation, integration, transfer and (re-)use of knowledge and competencies
(Maier and Schmidt, 2007). The convergence of knowledge management and e-learning
encourages a constructive, open, dynamic, interconnected, distributed, adaptive, user
friendly, socially concerned, and accessible wealth of knowledge (Lytras et al., 2005).
Chen and Hsiang (2007) believe the development of the knowledge community through
e-learning is an important strategy in implementing knowledge management policy.
Yordanova (2007) tried to find common features of both e-learning and knowledge
management, and considers that both domains of science influence each other very
intensively, and concludes by suggesting that the combination of their advantages
facilitates delivery of high quality education. There also exists the Aristotele Project
(2012) which aims to relate the learning process to the organisational one as well as to
innovation process management.
Knowledge acquisition is an interactive process (Barker, 2005). Higher educational
institutions are engaged in knowledge creation and distribution, and are knowledge-based
organisations fundamentally (Alexandropoulou et al., 2009). Institutions of higher
education constantly have to manage and organise knowledge in order to fulfil their tasks.
Thus, they have a mission to apply knowledge management practices. Many authors
 Knowledge management and e-learning in higher education 317

agree that, in contrast to the significant successes in the business area, knowledge
management is slowly gaining acceptance in the academic sector (Maponya, 2004;
Petrides and Nguyen, 2008; Tian et al., 2006). As a result, until a few years ago, the
application of knowledge management in higher education had been examined only
partially (Metcalfe, 2006).
Four studies related to application of knowledge management in higher education are
presented briefly here. Cranfield and Taylor (2008) conducted a case study at seven
higher education institutions within the UK with an aim to investigate knowledge
management practices and perceptions. Shoham and Perry (2009) examined the
organisation-wide technological changes that have infiltrated every aspects of life at
Israeli universities and proposed a model for managing organisation-wide technological
changes in universities on the basis of the existing mechanism, using knowledge
management strategies for the purpose of change management. Zhao (2010) analysed
the relationship among teacher learning, teacher professional development and school
knowledge management in China, while Laal (2011) outlined the basic concepts of
knowledge management in higher education institutes, and gave a summing up of
previous scientific works.
In contrast to knowledge management, students’ ICT competencies, usage and
perceptions of such technologies have been examined in a number of studies (Galanouli
and McNair, 2001; Hanson-Baldauf and Hughes Hassell, 2009; Kirkwood and Price,
2005; Whelan, 2008). Students’ attitudes towards e-learning have also been extensively
researched (Chen et al., 2008; Haverila, 2010; Keller and Cernerud, 2002; Ozkan and
Koseler, 2009). This interest was spurred by the intensive development of technology
enhanced learning and its implementation within higher education over the last decade.
Although students’ perceptions of e-learning have been explored by many authors, fewer
inter-university studies which compare different countries are to be found. Elango et al.
(2008) conducted their research on a sample of undergraduate e-learning students
from United Arab Emirates and Oman. Using a factor analysis they determined six
factors reflecting students’ perceptions of e-learning quality. Haverila and Barkhi (2009)
examined the influence of experience, ability and interest on e-learning effectiveness.
The participants of their study came from Finland and the UK. The author concluded that
there were significant differences between the two groups regarding their perceptions
of the effectiveness of e-learning. The study by Lin et al. (2009) explored students’
communication and project-based learning experiences in an international distance course
conducted by three universities in Japan and Taiwan. Their results showed that students
from these two countries perceived the usefulness of technologies in their learning
experiences differently. Although these papers are related to the current research aims,
the results reported from the current study are not directly comparable with those
presented in the earlier sources.

3 Research methodology

3.1 Instrument, procedures and sample

This research study was conducted among students in two universities: Josip Juraj
Strossmayer University of Osijek in Croatia, and Edinburgh Napier University in
318 D. Dukić et al.

Scotland, UK, using a questionnaire survey. For this purpose, a tailor-made survey
instrument was developed.
The questionnaire was structured in four sections. After the demographic questions,
the participants were asked to provide the information about computer and internet
equipment (Table 2), as knowledge management and e-learning require adequate
technical support. This section also contained questions about computer and internet
usage, especially those for education and information purposes (Table 3). With the aim of
determining how often students use a computer for particular study activities, in third
section we asked seven questions (Table 4). These responses were recorded on a
five-point Likert scale ranging from never (1) to regularly (5). Finally, there were
20 variables defined in the study that reflected student attitudes on certain aspects of
e-learning (Table 5). The questions covered a wide array of topics that are relevant
for the evaluation of e-learning systems, such as pedagogical, social, economic and
psychological dimensions. These statements were rated on a five-point Likert scale
ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5).
The Croatian version of the questionnaire was distributed to students in paper form or
via e-mail, as a Microsoft Word document. Each respondent received a brief explanation
of the research purpose and instructions how to fill in the questionnaire. All students
enrolled for study at Edinburgh Napier University were contacted via a pop-up window
when they next logged onto the learning management system (WebCT). An invitation to
participate and a link to the online survey were also posted on the Edinburgh Napier
student portal intranet page. In administering an online questionnaire, the SurveyMonkey
tool was used. Complete responses were received from 620 Croatian students and from
450 Scottish students.
In both groups, there were more female students. The proportion of females was
slightly higher among Scottish respondents. A greater number of respondents at
Edinburgh Napier University were studying for postgraduate degrees. Only three
respondents at the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek were studying for
postgraduate degrees. Considering undergraduate students, similar proportions were
studying in years one to four in both the Croatian and Scottish samples. Nine
undergraduate respondents were in year five at the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of
Osijek. No students were studying in year five of an undergraduate degree at Edinburgh
Napier University.
Partly due to the greater proportion of postgraduates in the Scottish sample, the mean
age of this group was 26.04 years, with a standard deviation of 8.86 years, while the
mean age of Croatian students was 21.59 years, with a standard deviation of 2.19 years.
The difference in median ages was less marked. The median age was 23 years in the
group of Scottish respondents and 21 years in the group of Croatian respondents.
Although the minimum ages were similar, i.e., 17 years in the Scottish sample and
18 years in the Croatian sample, there was a much greater spread of mature students in
the Scottish group.

3.2 Methods
Statistical methods were used to analyse the data. Firstly, summary statistics are
presented to describe the sample (Table 1). This includes a breakdown according to
gender, level of study, and year of study. Descriptive statistics were calculated in order to
compare sample groups according to age. Basic descriptive statistics were also calculated
 Knowledge management and e-learning in higher education 319

for the variables that were defined in the research as students’ ICT competencies and
attitudes towards e-learning. The statistical significance of differences between Croatian
and Scottish students was evaluated using the chi-square tests for independence and
Mann-Whitney tests. The data analysis was performed with the support of the statistical
package SPSS. In the study, the statistical significance level was set at p < 0.05.
Table 1 Demographic characteristics of respondents

Josip Juraj Strossmayer University Edinburgh

University of Osijek Napier
Frequency Percent Frequency Percent
Gender
Male 261 42.1 165 36.7
Female 359 57.9 285 63.3
Total 620 100.0 450 100.0
Level of study
Undergraduate 617 99.5 360 80.0
Postgraduate 3 0.5 90 20.0
Total 620 100.0 450 100.0
Year of study (undergraduate)
First 129 20.9 90 25.0
Second 172 27.9 91 25.3
Third 200 32.4 105 29.2
Fourth 107 17.3 74 20.6
Fifth 9 1.5 - -
Total 617 100.0 360 100.0

4 Results and discussions

The vast majority of respondents in both countries reported that they had unlimited use of
a computer or laptop, as well as internet access at home. A slightly higher proportion of
students in the Croatian sample had unlimited use of a computer or laptop, but they were
in a less favourable position for accessing the internet at home. Among students with
internet access at home, a greater proportion of respondents in Scotland had high-speed
access.
Table 2 Computer and internet access at home, and results of the chi-square test

Josip Juraj Strossmayer Edinburgh Napier

χ2 test
University of Osijek University
Frequency Percent Frequency Percent χ2 p
Unlimited use of 615 99.2 443 98.4 1.319 0.251
computer or laptop
Internet access at home 579 93.4 438 97.3 8.625 0.003
High speed internet access 503 86.9 432 98.6 46.493 0.000
320 D. Dukić et al.

A chi-square test for independence indicated a statistically significant relationship

between universities (countries where students study) and accessing the internet at home
(p = 0.003), and for having high-speed internet access (p < 0.001). The difference
between the two universities’ students in unlimited use of a computer or laptop was not
statistically significant. Since the internet, especially high-speed internet access, is a
necessity for accelerated development of knowledge management and e-learning, we can
conclude that the situation in Scotland is more favourable. However, investments in ICT
infrastructure during the last few years have improved the quality of ICT in the Croatian
higher education system, thus giving students the opportunity to participate more in the
process of knowledge finding and sharing.
Table 3 Hours spent per week using a computer and internet (basic descriptive statistics and
results of the Mann-Whitney test)

Josip Juraj Strossmayer Edinburgh Napier Mann-Whitney

University of Osijek University test
Mean Median Mean Median Z p
Excluding internet use:
All purpose 14.40 10.00 17.24 12.00 –5.000 0.000
Education and 6.30 4.00 11.00 9.00 –10.503 0.000
information purposes
Internet use only:
All purpose 29.95 20.00 20.13 16.50 –4.695 0.000
Education and 9.62 5.00 10.82 10.00 –5.469 0.000
information purposes

Students from Edinburgh Napier University reported that they use a computer, excluding
internet use, for education and information purposes more often than students attending
the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek. Scottish students use a computer on
average 2.84 hours per week more than the Croatian students; however, the difference is
4.70 hours, if we take into account the education and information purposes only. The
median difference in the first case is 2 hours, and in the second 5 hours. Although
Croatian students reported that they spend more time on internet than their Scottish peers
(about 30 hours per week compared to approximately 20 hours), respondents from
Edinburgh Napier University use it more for education and information purposes.
According to the Mann-Whitney tests, all differences were statistically significant,
indicating that Scottish students, from the viewpoint of knowledge management and
e-learning effectiveness, appear to use the computer and internet in a more appropriate
way.
The results presented in Table 4 show that students from Edinburgh Napier
University use a computer more often on average for writing essays, reports or other
types of written papers, for reading or looking over digital education materials, for
drawing or constructing, and for solving problems using a spreadsheet. Croatian students
reported that they use a computer more frequently for preparing presentations. They also
use statistical or mathematical software, and image or video processing software
more often than Scottish-based students. The Mann-Whitney tests indicate that all
differences are statistically significant, except for preparing presentations, and drawing or
constructing. Only in these two cases, the median values were the same. These findings,
 Knowledge management and e-learning in higher education 321

to a certain degree, point towards Scottish students using ICT more effectively for their
studies, but all results should be interpreted with caution, since the frequency of computer
usage for each particular study activity was based on the respondents’ own perceptions.
Table 4 Frequency of computer usage for certain study activities (basic descriptive statistics
and results of the Mann-Whitney test)

Josip Juraj Edinburgh

Mann-Whitney
Strossmayer Napier
test
University of Osijek University
Mean Median Mean Median Z p
Writing essays, reports, etc. 4.08 4.00 4.60 5.00 –8.493 0.000
Preparing presentations 3.86 4.00 3.75 4.00 –1.403 0.161
Reading digital education materials 3.55 4.00 4.22 5.00 –9.850 0.000
Drawing or constructing 2.17 2.00 2.26 2.00 –0.276 0.782
Using a spreadsheet 2.11 2.00 2.85 3.00 –8.926 0.000
Using a statistical or 2.02 2.00 1.93 1.00 –2.029 0.042
mathematical software
Using an image or 2.81 3.00 2.62 2.00 –2.430 0.015
video processing software

Scottish students viewed e-learning more positively than their Croatian peers (Table 5).
There were seven issues less valued by Scottish respondents: e-learning simplifies the
delivery of education, the use of e-learning improves student creativity, the use of
e-learning will reduce the costs of higher education, the lack of student-teacher contact is
not a drawback of e-learning, the lack of contact with students is not a drawback of
e-learning, e-learning is also useful for students with low computer literacy, and working
on a computer is not very tiring. Croatian students’ conviction that e-learning reduce the
costs of higher education is to a great extent associated with a poorer financial ability and
the belief that technology enhanced learning could help in saving money.
Table 5 Student attitudes on certain aspects of e-learning (basic descriptive statistics and
results of the Mann-Whitney test)

Josip Juraj
Edinburgh Mann-Whitney
Strossmayer
Napier University test
University of Osijek
Mean Median Mean Median Z p
1 Knowledge of the 2.53 3.00 3.58 4.00 –15.714 0.000
use of e-learning
2 E-learning is an 3.25 3.00 3.92 4.00 –11.683 0.000
important concept
3 Studying by e-learning 2.66 3.00 2.68 3.00 –0.260 0.795
alone is excellent
4 E-learning should be 3.48 3.00 4.15 4.00 –11.183 0.000
support to traditional
teaching
5 E-learning simplifies 3.60 4.00 3.59 4.00 –0.197 0.844
the delivery of education
322 D. Dukić et al.

Table 5 Student attitudes on certain aspects of e-learning (basic descriptive statistics and
results of the Mann-Whitney test) (continued)

Josip Juraj
Edinburgh Mann-Whitney
Strossmayer
Napier University test
University of Osijek
Mean Median Mean Median Z p
6 E-learning improves 3.42 3.00 3.29 3.00 –2.257 0.024
student creativity
7 E-learning is efficient 3.64 4.00 4.03 4.00 –6.460 0.000
if students are motivated
8 Objectivity of 2.92 3.00 3.08 3.00 –2.631 0.009
computer testing
9 Support of taking 2.96 3.00 3.23 3.00 –3.806 0.000
a computer test
10 E-learning provides 3.50 3.00 4.12 4.00 –10.843 0.000
great flexibility
11 E-learning reduces costs 3.57 4.00 3.48 3.00 –1.809 0.070
of higher education
12 E-learning is useful for 4.09 4.00 4.25 4.00 –0.621 0.534
people with limited mobility
13 E-learning promotes the 3.82 4.00 3.96 4.00 –1.944 0.052
ICT skills and
knowledge acquisition
14 The lack of student-teacher 2.53 3.00 1.98 2.00 –8.920 0.000
contact is not a
drawback of e-learning
15 The lack of contact with 2.55 2.00 2.00 2.00 –7.600 0.000
students is not a
drawback of e-learning
16 E-learning is also useful 2.73 3.00 2.52 2.00 –2.864 0.004
for students with
low computer literacy
17 E-learning does not 2.72 3.00 3.06 3.00 –4.786 0.000
promotes computer
and internet addiction
18 Working on a computer 3.08 3.00 2.60 2.00 –6.633 0.000
is not very tiring
19 Sufficient computer facilities 2.87 3.00 3.48 4.00 –9.617 0.000
in the university
20 Possibility of buying own 3.21 3.00 3.46 4.00 –4.727 0.000
computer equipment

Both, Croatian and Scottish students gave the highest average score to the usefulness of
e-learning for people with limited mobility. This was the only statement that students
from the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek rated with the mean score higher
than 4. Students from Edinburgh Napier University agreed most strongly with the
statements: the use of e-learning to support traditional teaching is extremely important,
e-learning provides great flexibility in choosing times for study, and e-learning is most
 Knowledge management and e-learning in higher education 323

efficient if students are motivated. Croatian students gave the lowest average grade to
their knowledge of the use of e-learning in education, and to statement that the lack of
student-teacher contact is not a drawback of e-learning. Scottish respondents also
disagreed most with the statement that the lack of student-teacher contact is not a
drawback of e-learning. From the results it can be concluded that both Croatian and
Scottish students approve of using e-learning within the teaching process; however, they
would not embrace the idea of education based on e-learning alone.

Figure 1 Mean student attitudes on aspects of e-learning

The average grades lower than 3 were also given by students from the Josip Juraj
Strossmayer University of Osijek to the statements that refer to the objectivity of using
computer tests or exams, and to their support of the concept of sitting tests or exams on a
computer. Computerassisted testing is certainly more objective than some other forms of
examination, but the obtained results lead to the conclusion that Croatian students do not
prefer this method of sitting tests and exams. There are several reasons for such a
negative attitude. First, time for answering in a computer test or exam is often limited,
which is something most students dislike, as they feel they cannot fully concentrate. Most
students also believe they can get better results if they are answering the questions
verbally. These subjective perceptions are likely to have an effect on these types of
assessment.
Working on a computer for Croatian students is less tiring than for Scottish students.
The reason for this may be that Croatian students use a computer and internet more for
non-education purposes, i.e., for fun (e.g., chat, surf, games, etc.).
According to the Mann-Whitney tests, only five differences in student attitudes on
certain aspects of e-learning were not statistically significant. These are the following
statements: studying by e-learning alone is an excellent concept, e-learning simplifies the
delivery of education, e-learning reduces costs of higher education, e-learning is very
useful for people with limited mobility, and e-learning will promote the acquisition of
knowledge and skills in ICT.
324 D. Dukić et al.

5 Conclusions and recommendations

We begun our research with an assumption that knowledge management and e-learning
can greatly assist in increasing efficiency of higher education. Implementation of these
two tightly connected concepts enables university education system transformation
and adoption for functioning in a dynamic and changing environment. Knowledge
management and e-learning directly contribute to innovation in the teaching and learning
process, thus making them easier and more enjoyable. The progression of knowledge
management in higher education, and the acceptance of e-learning amongst users should
be continuously measured, especially in an international context. With this in mind, the
survey instrument was developed.
In this research study, the focus is on the analysis of differences between the level of
knowledge management and e-learning development in two countries. The findings are in
accordance with some of the previous studies; students generally accept e-learning, but
they also find limitations in its usage. As previously mentioned, due to the nature of this
study, results presented in this paper cannot be directly compared with those from the
other sources.
The research produced some interesting results related to Croatian and Scottish higher
education. Fewer students in Croatia have access to the internet at home, and greater
proportion of Scottish students had high speed access. The vast majority of students
studying in both countries have unlimited use of a computer or laptop, and that difference
was not significant. In addition, the results show that Scottish students spend more time
using a computer, in total, and for education and information purposes. Although students
from Croatia spend longer on the internet overall, Scottish students use the internet more
often in the learning process and for finding information. Finally, we determined that
Scottish students perceive e-learning more positively than their Croatian peers. These
results confirm assumptions about differences in ICT usage between students from the
two countries, which affects student participation in knowledge transfer activities and in
students’ e-learning perceptions. Hereby, we can conclude that the concept of knowledge
management and e-learning is more readily accepted and implemented in Scottish higher
education.
The results from these surveys can be considered as an important resource for
preparing knowledge management and e-learning strategies. In order to reduce the gap,
additional efforts and appropriate actions must be undertaken within the Croatian higher
education system. Amongst other things, it is necessary to revise the national curriculum,
which does not sufficiently take into account the usefulness of ICT in education. Croatian
students should be motivated and encouraged to make greater use of ICT for education
and information purposes. Also, in Croatia, it is necessary to continue to invest in ICT
infrastructure, particularly in the area of broadband services. In comparison with Croatia,
Scotland appears to be better placed regarding the implementation of knowledge
management and e-learning. However, this does not mean that improvements in the
Scottish education system are not needed.
The research presented in this paper has a wider application than just the analysis of
differences between Croatian and Scottish higher education. Namely, the survey
instrument can be used as a universal tool for analysing differences in knowledge
management and e-learning implementation. If necessary, the instrument can be enriched
with other relevant variables, and different statistical methods, such as cluster analysis,
factor analysis and discriminant analysis may be applied. Further use of the survey
 Knowledge management and e-learning in higher education 325

instrument and analysis of the data collected will increase the usefulness and value of the
instrument.

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