Predictors of Employee's Perceptions of Knowledge Sharing Culture

Predictors of employees' perceptions of knowledge sharing cultures

Catherine E. Connelly Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada E. Kevin Kelloway Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Keywords

Knowledge management, Social systems, Management services, Research

Predictors of employees' perceptions of knowledge sharing cultures

Knowledge sharing has been identified as a positive force in creating innovative organizations, but the organizational and individual factors that promote or discourage knowledge sharing among colleagues are poorly understood. Although firms that seek to increase knowledge sharing among their employees often invest in a variety of new technologies, there may be more significant predictors of knowledge sharing than the mere availability of technology. The current study evaluates whether organizational factors such as employees' perceptions of management's support for knowledge sharing, their perceptions of the organization's social interaction culture, the organization's size, and the organization's available knowledge sharing technology, as well as whether individual factors such as age, gender, and organizational tenure had a significant impact on employees' perceptions of a knowledge sharing culture.

Abstract

This study investigated whether organizational factors such as employees' perceptions of management's support for knowledge sharing, their perceptions of the organization's social interaction culture, the organization's size, and the organization's available knowledge sharing technology, as well as whether individual factors such as age, gender, and organizational tenure had a significant impact on employees' perceptions of a knowledge sharing culture. New measures to assess employees' perceptions of management's support for knowledge sharing, their perceptions of the organization's social interaction culture, and the perceived knowledge sharing culture were developed. We found that perceptions...