Knowledge Management in Health and Social Care: Insights from Finland's Public Sector Reform

Abstract

Public health and social care systems operate in increasingly knowledge‑intensive, resource‑constrained and politically steered environments, heightening the strategic importance of knowledge management (KM). While KM has received growing attention in healthcare research, prior studies have largely focused on organization‑level practices, leaving the governance of multi‑actor public service systems and the development of KM capabilities underexplored. This study examines KM in Finland following a major health and social care reform that transferred service‑organizing responsibility from over 300 municipalities to 22 regional organizations, requiring a shift from fragmented reporting toward system‑level, more strategic KM. Drawing on qualitative interviews with KM leads from all 22 regional organizations, the analysis combines inductive and theory‑driven content analysis to explore how the reform affected KM, what benefits emerged, and how KM capabilities are being developed. The findings provide new insights into KM as an evolving capability in politically steered and resource‑limited public service systems and highlight pathways for strengthening KM during large‑scale organizational transformation. The study contributes to KM research in the public sector and offers practical implications for similar reform contexts.