Abstract
This dissertation seeks to explain the role of business information infrastructure in effecting knowledge management within web based virtual organizations and to identify the systems development approach most suitable for propagating and enhancing knowledge in such organizations given a rapidly evolving business environment.
Drawing from research in the area of business information infrastructure and the more recent area of knowledge management, it extends the conventional framework for business information infrastructure into a knowledge management infrastructure framework. Contributions from the theory of complexity and complex adaptive systems are then used to explain the catalytic effects of systems development methodologies on the enhancement of the knowledge management infrastructure and the leveraging of knowledge within a web based virtual organization. The impacts of key methodologies on the leveraging of the firm's knowledge via the catalysis of knowledge management processes and the continuous enhancement of the knowledge management infrastructure are then examined.