Abstract

This paper aims to overcome the weaknesses of the relationship between knowledge management with a competitive advantage by adding management behavior as a mediating variable in the relationship of knowledge management with the internationalization strategy, which is an effort to increase competitive advantage in higher education. Respondents in this study were 198 people of structural officials managing colleges in 55 universities in Indonesia. The result shows that, from 7 hypotheses which are proposed, only 4 hypotheses are significant that are supported by empirical data. Market characteristics, cultural understanding, and knowledge management significantly affect management behavior and do not significantly affect the internationalization strategy. Furthermore, management behavior significantly affects internationalization strategy and can mediate relationships between market characteristics, cultural understanding, and knowledge management with internationalization strategy.