Malaysian ‘knowledge society’: refining and verifying the definition

Abstract

This paper outlines the findings of the research where the central idea is to define the term knowledge society (KS) in Malaysian context. The research focuses on three important dimensions, namely knowledge, ICT and human capital. This study adopts a modified Delphi technique to seek the important dimensions that can contribute to the development of Malaysian's KS. The Delphi technique involved ten experts in a five-round iterative and controlled feedback procedure to obtain consensus on the important dimensions and to verify the proposed definition of KS. The finding shows that all three dimensions proposed initially scored high and moderate consensus. Round one (R1) proposed an initial definition of KS and required comments and inputs from the panel. These inputs were then used to develop items for an R2 questionnaire. In R2, 56 out of 73 items scored high consensus, and in R3, 63 out of 90 items scored high. R4 was conducted to re-rate the new items, in which eight out of 17 items scored high. Other items scored moderate consensus and no item scored low or no consensus in all rounds. The final round (R5) was employed to verify the final definition of KS. The findings and discovery of this study are significant to the definition of KS and the development of a framework in the Malaysian context.