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This research aims to present and empirically validate a conceptual model for social economy organizations that includes organizational commitment, knowledge‐centered culture, and training as critical variables for the success of formal and informal knowledge management practices.

The research is a cross‐sectional study and involved collection of quantitative data. The sample is made up of Portuguese organizations belonging to the social economy sector. The survey consisted of 205 employees. Path analysis was applied, using maximum‐likelihood estimation procedures.

Path analysis results show that the proposed model has a good fit with the data. Training and knowledge management practices are a function of knowledge‐centered culture and organizational commitment.

The research is focused on social economy organizations, therefore generalization of results to other sectors must be cautious. Although a comprehensible model is presented, it does not cover an exhaustive list of critical factors for knowledge management. Additionally, this research is of a cross‐sectional nature, which does not capture dynamic changes.

The research contributes to the existing literature about the critical factors of knowledge management. Social economy organizations that are developing knowledge management practices should attend to the predominant type of organizational commitment and should base their training policies on a knowledge‐centered culture.

Empirical evidence obtained in this study will be of use not only to social economy organizations wanting to become knowledge management ones, but also to researchers wanting to develop a more comprehensive framework of factors that influence (positively or negatively) knowledge management, specifically within social economy organizations.

The paper aims to investigate the standpoints and practices of university members from European developing countries regarding the harnessing of the intellectual capital (IC) within online academic social networks.

A questionnaire-based survey with 210 university members was conducted, with the indicators adopting prior measurement scales which were further adapted to a network framework.

The organizational policies and practices relate positively and highly significantly with the valuation of the network-based IC components. Moreover, 63 per cent of the professional and organizational competitiveness of higher education institutions is determined by the exploitation of the IC embedded in online academic networks.

All survey respondents were from the European developing countries, which may limit the general applicability of the findings. Also, the emphasis is laid solely on online academic networks.

This paper brings to the fore both the potential and the state-of-the-art in leveraging the IC of online specialized networks which are indicative of the academic field. When acknowledged as such, the network-based IC is liable to generate substantial competitive advantages at the professional and organizational levels at the same time.

This research adds to the extant literature in two main ways. First, it advances a new construct – network-based IC – in the context of the online academic social networks. Second, it proposes a research model for addressing the network-based IC from a competitive advantage perspective.