Knowledge management in future communities enhances smart city initiatives: path and mediation

Purpose This study aims to investigate the role of knowledge management in enhancing urban innovation within the context of smart cities, with a particular emphasis on the function of future communities as foundational units of knowledge-driven development. It aims to distinguish the respective contributions of knowledge acquisition and knowledge sharing as input mechanisms, while examining the mediating effects of knowledge integration and knowledge application in translating distributed community knowledge into actionable outcomes for smart city advancement. Design/methodology/approach The study selected 11 cities in Zhejiang Province, China, as survey sites, relying on research projects conducted by the China Housing and Real Estate Research Centre to distribute questionnaires. With 4,108 valid responses available for data analysis, structural equation modelling was used to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings Empirical evidence demonstrates that the knowledge management capabilities of future communities significantly contribute to the advancement of smart city initiatives. While knowledge acquisition and knowledge sharing exhibit relatively weak direct effects, their impact is substantially reinforced through the mediating roles of knowledge integration and knowledge application. Among the four dimensions, knowledge integration and knowledge application emerge as the most critical drivers, underscoring the importance of internal knowledge coordination and practical implementation in fostering systemic urban innovation. Research limitations/implications This study contributes to existing knowledge management research by specifically focusing on the importance of knowledge management in future communities for smart cities. However, the research was conducted in Zhejiang Province and may not be directly generalisable to cities with significantly different characteristics. Originality/value Knowledge management and smart cities are topics of ongoing interest to researchers; however, empirical studies linking future community knowledge management with smart cities are limited. This study examines this relationship and provides empirical support for it.