Integrating knowledge management with organizational culture transformation to enhance data security: A qualitative perspective

Indonesia’s rapidly growing digital economy faces increasing data security challenges, particularly within open innovation ecosystems where organizations must balance knowledge sharing and information protection. This study examines how Knowledge Management (KM) practices support cultural transformation to strengthen data security behaviors in Indonesian energy sector organizations. Using a two-phase qualitative approach, the research combines semi-structured interviews with 12 senior executives and vignette-based validation with 6 practitioners, generating 233 coded responses. The findings identify 14 key themes across three level, individual, team, and organizational, highlighting crisis-driven learning, safety culture adaptation, and systematic integration as key mechanisms. Organizations must also navigate core tensions such as speed versus security and openness versus confidentiality. The results emphasize the importance of culturally sensitive approaches aligned with Indonesian values such as gotong royong and musyawarah. Overall, effective KM–security integration requires coordinated development across all levels, positioning knowledge sharing and data protection as complementary rather than competing priorities.