Abstract
The present study was conducted with the aim of identifying the effective factors on the implementation of Eric Cheng's knowledge management model in the secondary schools of the second period of West Azerbaijan province. The research method is applicable in terms of objective, and phenomenological in terms of collecting qualitative information, and the research population is the principals of secondary schools of the second period of the province in the academic year of 2022-2023, with the purposeful sampling method of homogeneous type; and based on the principle of theoretical saturation, the number of 8 people were selected from among the provincial managers. The research tool is a semi-structured interview, and Lincoln and Guba's four criteria were used for the reliability of the data. According to the Claizy analysis method, in the dimension of "Knowledge Leadership" two main themes under the headings of "Information networking with four sub-themes" and "Learning support with three sub-themes"; in the "knowledge management perspective" dimension, three main themes under the titles of "situation analysis with four sub-themes", "continuous interaction with three sub-themes" and "effective feedback with three sub-themes"; in the "Knowledge Exchange Culture" dimension, three main themes under the titles of "Situation Analysis with four sub-themes", "Security with four sub-themes" and "Sustainable knowledge sharing with three sub-themes", and in the "Knowledge Management Strategies" dimension, three main themes under the titles "Motivation and support with four sub-themes", "Innovation with three sub-themes" and "Research with three sub-themes" were identified and extracted as effective factors on the implementation of Eric Cheng's knowledge management model.
Extended abstract
Introduction
Human power is considered as the basic asset of any organization, and organizations should try to empower their forces. This issue is more important in the field of education. Empowering people in education ensures qualitative improvement and quantitative development of education and contributes to the excellence of society (Endres & Chowdhury, 2019).
Knowledge management is considered as a key factor in empowering human forces in education. This process plays an important role in creating, maintaining, sharing knowledge and helps to improve organizational performance (Cheng, 2017). There are different patterns and models for knowledge management, but it should be noted that each organization may have its own needs and should implement the knowledge management system based on its own conditions. The school as an organization is no exception to this rule. Among the different models of knowledge management, Eric Cheng's model of knowledge management is one of the suitable models for knowledge management at the school level.
Examining this model has been neglected in the researches of this field, therefore, the present study aims to investigate the effective factors on the implementation of Eric Cheng's knowledge management model in the secondary schools of West Azarbaijan province, and the main question is: What is the effective factors on the implementation of knowledge management based on the Eric Cheng model in secondary schools of West Azerbaijan province?
 
Theoretical framework
In the 1990s, the concept of knowledge management emerged as a strategic approach to exchange, transfer and create knowledge in organizations. This concept first attracted a lot of attention in business environments. Over time, it entered educational organizations and schools. In the field of education, knowledge management as an emerging concept played an important role in improving the processes and improving the quality of education. Cheng (2015) has presented a comprehensive model for knowledge management in school. Cheng's model is based on 4 dimensions of "Knowledge Leadership", "Knowledge Management Perspective", "Knowledge Exchange Culture", and "Knowledge Management Strategies".
Knowledge leadership means creating a dynamic environment for the exchange of knowledge between organization members, and has a direct effect on the attitude and behavior of employees towards knowledge management issues. The vision of knowledge management is a picture of the future of the organization and considers how to facilitate knowledge management approaches for the development of the organization. The culture of knowledge exchange emphasizes the beliefs, values, behaviors and functions in the organization to promote the transfer and sharing of knowledge between members, and the knowledge management strategy is a detailed plan to achieve the goals of knowledge management and strengthen its main foundations (Mohammadi Qeshlaq & Jafardoost, 2018).
The results of research in the field of knowledge management show that knowledge management can lead to improving the performance of schools, improving the educational achievements of students, encouraging positive perceptions of the school in society, and improving educational processes. Also, factors such as organizational culture, staff characteristics, knowledge leadership, knowledge-based structure design and technology play an important role in the success of knowledge management in schools. What has been neglected in previous researches is the identification of effective factors in the process of "implementing the knowledge management model", especially in schools. The present study tries to cover this research gap.
Research methodology
The research method is applicable from the point of view of purpose, and qualitative phenomenology in terms of data collection. The statistical population includes principals of secondary schools in West Azarbaijan province in the academic year of 2021-2022. The purposeful sampling method is of homogeneous type, and based on the principle of data saturation; 8 people were selected as sample managers. In order to collect information, a semi-structured interview was conducted with the participants. Lincoln and Guba's four criteria were used for data reliability. Data analysis was done using the Claizy method (the model proposed by Moro, Rodrigues and King) and with the MAXQDA20 software.
 
Research findings
The data of the research were analyzed with Claizy's method and the model proposed by Moro, Rodrigues and King. Therefore, after the implementation and review of the texts, the primary codes were extracted. The meanings of each of the codes were organized and reviewed, finally, according to the semantic affinity, the main themes were formed and based on the conceptual connection, sub-themes and sub-themes were identified. The effective factors identified based on Eric Cheng's knowledge management model in "Knowledge Leadership Dimension" included 2 main themes under the headings of "Information networking with 4 sub-themes" and "Learning support with 3 sub-themes". In the "knowledge management perspective" dimension, it includes 3 main themes under the titles of "situation analysis with 4 sub-themes", "continuous interaction with 3 sub-themes" and "effective feedback with 3 sub-themes". In the "knowledge exchange culture" dimension, 3 main themes were identified under the headings of "situation analysis with 4 sub-themes", "security with 4 sub-themes" and "sustainable knowledge sharing with 3 sub-themes". In the "Knowledge Management Strategies" dimension, 3 main themes were identified and extracted under the titles of "Motivation and support with 4 sub-themes", "Innovation with 3 sub-themes" and "Research with 3 sub-themes".
 
Conclusion
The main purpose of the current research was to identify the effective factors on the implementation of knowledge management based on Eric Cheng's model in the dimensions of "Knowledge Leadership", "Knowledge Management Perspective", "Knowledge Exchange Culture" and "Knowledge Management Strategies" in secondary schools of the second period of West Azarbaijan province. Knowledge management is an organizational process for collecting, storing, exchanging and exploiting knowledge in an organization. Meanwhile, Knowledge leadership plays an essential role; because leaders should promote the value of knowledge in the organization, create motivation and commitment to share knowledge and encourage people towards knowledge management processes. The perspective of knowledge management should determine specific goals and priorities for attracting, creating and transferring knowledge in the organization and use specific strategies to achieve these goals. Knowledge management strategy should include methods and processes that are used as tools for collecting, organizing and exploiting knowledge. The culture of knowledge exchange is also introduced as a part of knowledge management and indicates the willingness of organization members to share their knowledge and experiences. This culture of knowledge exchange helps to create an open environment in the organization.
In a general comparison with the results of previous researches, the results of the present research in the dimension of knowledge leadership have an innovative aspect in terms of identifying the main themes of "information networking and learning support" and the sub-themes of each of them. In the perspective of knowledge management, in terms of identifying the themes of "continuous interaction and effective feedback" and the sub-themes of each of them, it has an innovative aspect and to some extent in the sub-themes of "situation analysis" overlaps with the results of Edak & Edak (2018) and Daraei & Navehebrahim (2021). In the dimension of knowledge exchange culture, the identification of the themes of "constructive environment and security" and the sub-themes of each of them is new and only in the theme of "sustainable knowledge sharing" it is somewhat aligned with the results of Rahimiane et al, (2022). In terms of identifying the themes of "innovation and research" and the sub-themes of each of them, the knowledge management strategy has an innovative aspect, and only in the theme of "motivation and support" it is somewhat aligned with the results Rahimiane et al, (2022).
According to the results obtained from the research, the following are suggested separately:
In the dimension of knowledge leadership: schools should pay special attention to creating a virtual platform for teachers and students.
In the perspective of knowledge management: school managers should conduct a needs assessment among teachers and school staff so that the needs, opportunities and problems in the school are identified and based on this analysis, suitable resources and solutions are introduced and implemented.
In the dimension of knowledge exchange culture: through holding knowledge-enhancing courses, teachers' knowledge in this regard is increased and they are encouraged to collaborate and cooperate among people in the school and promote the creation of a culture of collective learning.
 In the dimension of knowledge management strategies: based on external incentives such as issuing incentives, annual evaluation score, organization score, etc., teachers should be encouraged to present creative solutions, generate ideas, carry out research activities, etc.