Abstract:

The main objective of the research was to assess the knowledge management of postgraduate students in education at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). The frame of reference was constituted mainly by the contributions of Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995), Alavi and Leidner (2001), Romo (2007), Barragán (2009), Romo, Villalobos and Guadalupe (2012) as well as Rodríguez, Cohen, Pedraja, Araneda and Rodríguez (2014). This study presented the relevance of determining the status of knowledge management at the graduate level in a higher education institution in Mexico.

The type of study that was used was a methodology with a quantitative approach with a transversal design of exploratory-descriptive type. The instrument that was designed to obtain the field information was a questionnaire based on a Likert scale organized by the dimensions: intellectual capital, structural capital and relational capital. The items were measured through a scale with five response options ranging from 0 (not developed) to 4 (highly developed). The instrument was subjected to an expert judgment to determine the validity of its content and then obtain its reliability and internal consistency by means of Cronbach's alpha coefficient, which was 0.855, which is why it was interpreted as adequate.

The sample was of stratified type constituted by a student body of 192 distributed in three postgraduate programs in education taught by the UNAM: Doctorate in Pedagogy (32%), Master in Pedagogy (33%) and Master in Teaching for Higher Secondary Education (35%). With respect to gender, the sample presented a distribution of 64% men and the remaining 36% to women. The average age of the participants was 33.2 years.

To organize the information, descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The interpretation of the levels of development was carried out according to the following evaluation criteria: From 0.00 to 1.00 a non-developed level of competence was considered; from 1.10 to 2.00 as an insufficient level of development; from 2.10 to 3.00 as a moderate development level and from 3.10 to 4.00 as a consolidated level of development.

The main results of the research were: For the first dimension oriented towards intellectual capital, an average of 3.13 was found, which was interpreted as a consolidated level. For the second dimension related to structural capital, an average of 3.24 was found, which indicated the existence of a consolidated level. For the third component on relational capital, an average of 3.11 was obtained, which was also classified as a consolidated level. However, relevant findings were found such as an insufficient level of proficiency in the English language as well as the preparation and publication of academic products such as conference papers, articles in international or national journals and the formulation of book chapters combined with participation in international congresses where the English language is the main language.

Keywords:

Knowledge management, student body, postgraduate studies in education, assessment.