The roles of psychological climate,information management capabilities,and IT support on knowledge-sharing: an MOA perspective

Leveraging the motivation-opportunity-ability (MOA) theoretical framework and past research on psychological climate, this study analyzes three antecedent factors driving an individual’s knowledge-sharing (KS) within organizations: knowledge-sharing psychological climate as motivation, information management capability as ability, and organizational information technology support as opportunity. An empirical examination reveals that a motivating psychological climate has a primary impact on KS behavior, and the impact of perceived information management capability on sharing is mediated by the psychological climate. Perceived organizational use of information technology to support knowledge work bears strong influence on information management capabilities but not on sharing, suggesting that investment in IT does have indirect payoffs. The study is the first to position the opportunity→ability→motivation causal network in an individual’s KS behavior. The findings suggest that managers need to consider the pre-requisite roles of IT-enabled opportunities and workers’ information management abilities when building an all-important motivating climate to share.     

Research on the mechanism of knowledge and intelligence sharing in enterprises under big data: From the perspective of status‐striving motivation and opinion dynamics

Knowledge sharing is the process of individual knowledge interaction in the team. To understand the social psychological mechanism in the process of knowledge sharing, this article combines status‐striving motivation with opinion dynamics to study the decision mechanism and evolution law of employee knowledge sharing behaviour. A multiagent simulation method is used to design the decision‐making model of employee knowledge sharing behaviour. The influence of the network structure, number of people, and the proportion of employees with different statuses on knowledge sharing performance is considered. The simulation software is used to convert the theoretical model into a parametric experiment, and the sensitivity analysis is also employed. The results show that the knowledge of individuals with high status will increase initially, but the upward trend will eventually slow until reaching a steady state. The steady‐state status of employees is positively correlated with their initial knowledge volume.     

When and how authoritarian leadership and leader renqing orientation influence tacit knowledge sharing intentions

In this study of tacit knowledge-sharing intentions in China, we examine the roles of authoritarian leadership and fairness with respect to the way managers make decisions and treat their subordinates. In particular, we examine the role of leader renqing orientation, i.e., the way leaders distribute favors and emotional concern to their subordinates, as a moderating factor. We draw on the research literature in the domains of knowledge management and cross-cultural Psychology to identify constructs that we then test with a survey of 309 Chinese employees. Our findings are counter-intuitive and are discussed in detail before we conclude with implications for research and practice.     

The mediating effect of organizational culture and knowledge sharing on transformational leadership and Enterprise Resource Planning systems success: An empirical study in China

Senior leadership has been identified as a critical factor in fostering Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems success, however, the specific impact mechanism of transformational leadership on ERP success is still largely unknown. Based on organizational culture theory and knowledge based view, this study developed a theoretical model to explore the mediating effect of organizational culture and knowledge sharing on transformational leadership and ERP success. Data was collected from 115 IS executives and 413 ERP end users in 115 organizations in China. Partial Least Squares (PLS) analysis results suggest that transformational leadership is directly related with all the four types of organizational culture – development culture, group culture, hierarchical culture and rational culture, and is indirectly related with knowledge sharing and ERP success. Specifically, development culture has direct impact on ERP success, while hierarchical culture, group and rational culture are indirectly related with ERP success, mediated by explicit and tacit knowledge sharing. The research findings can provide guidelines for the top executives to facilitate appropriate organizational culture, so as to foster ERP knowledge sharing and achieve business benefits with the assimilation of ERP systems.     

Distributed leadership in the development of a knowledge sharing system

This paper studies leadership dynamics in the development of a knowledge sharing system. We apply the concept of distributed leadership, examining how leadership roles are distributed across different individuals in the organisation during developing and implementing a knowledge sharing system. The results of a case study demonstrate that the leadership was fulfilled by the interdependent and emergent roles played by several individuals: the spearheading and coordinating roles of a knowledgeable and persistent project leader, the supporting and steering roles carried by a group of perceptive and collaboration-inclined executives, and the knowledge sharing and momentum driving roles performed by knowledge champions. Each of these leadership influences was indispensable. None of the leaders could have accomplished this task individually, without the active involvement of the other types of leaders. This research makes its contribution to the understanding of the emergence and dynamics of distributed leadership in the information system environment, and demonstrates the importance of a full awareness of distributed leadership as tasks are carried out in developing a knowledge sharing system.     

Organizational Vision and System Influences on Employee Inspiration and Organizational Performance

A model integrating multiple levels of leadership, leader charisma and organizational system influences on employee vision inspiration (motivation to help achieve their organizations' visions) was proposed and tested. The study employed data from 1,662 employees across 15 organizations. Results indicated that leader charisma was significantly and sizably related to employee inspiration, but differentially for different levels (executive versus supervisory) of leaders. Similarly, organizational system factors were significantly related to levels of employee inspiration, which significantly predicted multiple criteria for organizational performance. Practical and scientific implications of the results are considered.     

Closing the gap: towards a process model of post-merger knowledge sharing

Abstract.  We develop a process model of post-merger knowledge sharing based on distributed cognition, a systems perspective and path dependence. The framework conceptualizes knowledge sharing by layers of management choice and employee appropriation of knowledge resources seen as knowledge as content and knowledge as connection. We use the framework to study a merger of two polymer companies. The study reveals that mergers represent a discontinuity in knowledge sharing. Yet, chosen strategies often mirror the learned knowledge-sharing practices of one of the merged companies and match poorly with the post-merger knowledge-sharing needs. Five factors emerged contribute to this knowledge gap: (a) the nature of the merger; (b) a lack of shared context; (c) the incompatibility of existing knowledge systems; (d) the tacit dimension of knowledge; and (e) time pressures of the merger. Our study shows that, employees enacted knowledge new sharing practices that differed significantly from the official strategy to close to the post-merger knowledge gap.     

Knowledge sharing intention in the United States and China: a cross-cultural study

In today’s knowledge-based economy, most of the knowledge-sharing studies have investigated the effects of cultural values at the national level. However, individual beliefs and behaviors might also be influenced and modified by individual cultural values. To understand the effects of cultural values, cultural effects at both the individual and country levels should be considered. This study is to investigate the integrative effects of the individual’s and country’s cultural values on knowledge sharing. We examine motivational factors affecting knowledge-sharing intentions based on social exchange theory and incorporate individualism/collectivism and uncertainty avoidance as moderators. On the basis of a survey of 394 employees conducted in the United States and China, the results show that rewards are significantly related to knowledge-sharing intentions for Chinese employees but not for American employees. Reciprocity and knowledge self-efficacy significantly impact knowledge-sharing intentions in the two countries. Our results also demonstrate that the individual’s and country’s cultural values play important roles in knowledge sharing. In the United States, individualism/collectivism is found to moderate the relationship between rewards and knowledge-sharing intentions. In China, individualism/collectivism is found to moderate the relationship between reputation and knowledge-sharing intentions, while uncertainty avoidance is found to moderate the relationship between knowledge self-efficacy and knowledge-sharing intentions.     

有限理性下知识团队知识共享的演化博弈分析

为提高知识团队成员共享知识的意愿,通过运用演化博弈论,对知识团队知识共享的内在机理与动态演化过程进行了分析.结果表明,影响知识团队知识共享的因素有知识员工的知识拥有量差距、风险系数、知识共享度、互补性知识比例、激励系数、协同性影响程度等,通过调整这些参数的大小,可以有效提高知识团队成员选择知识共享策略的概率.     

Knowledge-sharing in virtual communities: familiarity,anonymity and self-determination theory

Although the role of motivation has been emphasised in knowledge-sharing literature, traditional motivation theories, such as self-determination theory (SDT), have not been actively used as a research framework in knowledge-sharing research. The purposes of this study are twofold. The first objective is to propose a model, based on SDT, to test the effect of the three basic psychological needs – perceived competence, perceived autonomy and perceived relatedness – on knowledge-sharing behaviours in virtual communities. The second objective is to explore the effects of familiarity and anonymity on the basic psychological needs to better understand individuals’ knowledge-sharing behaviours in virtual communities. The results show that perceived competence and perceived relatedness influence knowledge-sharing behaviours in virtual communities; however, perceived autonomy does not influence knowledge-sharing behaviours; familiarity influences positively perceived competence and perceived relatedness, and anonymity influences negatively perceived autonomy and perceived relatedness.     

The influence of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation on individuals' knowledge sharing behavior

A major challenge in knowledge management involves motivating people to share knowledge with others. The objective of this study is to deepen our understanding of how to influence an individual's tendency to engage in knowledge sharing behavior in a team setting. Specifically, we investigate the effects of intrinsic motivation (altruism) and extrinsic motivation (economic reward, reputation feedback and reciprocity) on knowledge sharing (number of ideas generated, idea usefulness, idea creativity and meeting satisfaction) in a group meeting. Results of our experiment show that a knowledge management system with built-in reputation feedback is crucial to support successful knowledge sharing.     

Knowledge sharing in information system development teams: examining the impact of shared mental model from a social capital theory perspective

Shared mental model (SMM), a concept from psychology, is defined as a common thinking style developed when individuals perform similar tasks in a cohesive manner. In this article, we investigate the relationship between the three dimensions of social capital and SMM. We also examine whether SMM mediates the impact of social capital on knowledge sharing (KS) behaviour in information system development (ISD) teams. Social capital is defined as the resource of social relationships owned by individuals. It is useful for explaining human behaviour in social networks. The data collected represent 492 ISD professionals in 118 teams from 18 middle-sized enterprises. The results of this study indicate that social capital theory is useful for explaining the antecedents of SMM, and SMM is positively related to KS and team performance. This research also emphasises the importance of developing SMM in a team.     

Acquiring and sharing tacit knowledge in software development teams: An empirical study

ContextSharing expert knowledge is a key process in developing software products. Since expert knowledge is mostly tacit, the acquisition and sharing of tacit knowledge along with the development of a transactive memory system (TMS) are significant factors in effective software teams.ObjectiveWe seek to enhance our understanding human factors in the software development process and provide support for the agile approach, particularly in its advocacy of social interaction, by answering two questions: How do software development teams acquire and share tacit knowledge? What roles do tacit knowledge and transactive memory play in successful team performance?MethodA theoretical model describing the process for acquiring and sharing tacit knowledge and development of a TMS through social interaction is presented and a second predictive model addresses the two research questions above. The elements of the predictive model and other demographic variables were incorporated into a larger online survey for software development teams, completed by 46 software SMEs, consisting of 181 individual team members.ResultsOur results show that team tacit knowledge is acquired and shared directly through good quality social interactions and through the development of a TMS with quality of social interaction playing a greater role than transactive memory. Both TMS and team tacit knowledge predict effectiveness but not efficiency in software teams.ConclusionIt is concluded that TMS and team tacit knowledge can differentiate between low- and high-performing teams in terms of effectiveness, where more effective teams have a competitive advantage in developing new products and bringing them to market. As face-to-face social interaction is key, collocated, functionally rich, domain expert teams are advocated rather than distributed teams, though arguably the team manager may be in a separate geographic location provided that there is frequent communication and effective use of issue tracking tools as in agile teams.     

Psychological Safety,Knowledge Sharing,and Creative Performance in Healthcare Teams

We examined how psychological safety fosters knowledge‐sharing processes and enables team creative performance. Using a multi‐respondent design, we tested our hypotheses using survey data collected from 73 patient‐centred healthcare teams working in the field on rare diseases. The data were analysed using latent class regression analysis. We confirmed that a high level of psychological safety within the team is a significant predictor of creative team performance and is mediated by the sharing of two types of knowledge: information and know‐how.     

The impact of team task and job engagement on the transfer of tacit knowledge in e-business virtual teams

This research focuses on the initiative to integrate team task and job engagement as related to the transfer of tacit knowledge. The aim of this study is to investigate if team task and job involvement enhances the overall work efficiency through transfer of tacit knowledge between e-business virtual teams. We develop a model that is based on the relationship between tacit degree of knowledge, job engagement, team tasks, and their effect on knowledge transfer. The conceptual model is validated with the data collected from a survey. The results indicate that the tacit knowledge does not have a positive effect on team tasks and job engagement, and the team tasks and job engagement have a significant positive effect on knowledge transfer. In addition, the study found that team tasks and job engagement have mediating effects in the process of tacit knowledge transfer. Also, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications and contributions of this study.     

Individual characteristics influencing the sharing of knowledge on social networking services: online identity,self-efficacy,and knowledge sharing intentions

ABSTRACT

Social media have become an important place for individuals with similar interests to exchange opinions and share resources. Ubiquitous collaborative learning environments in SNS have great educational and organisational potential and offer a platform for sharing knowledge. Rising interest in personal factors in knowledge management research calls for a better understanding of how knowledge is shared in SNS-based collaborative learning. Grounded on the theories of planned behaviour and social identity, this study investigates individual characteristics that affect the sharing of knowledge in SNS learning communities. The study also examines whether intent to share knowledge mediates those personal characteristics and sharing of knowledge. Eighty individuals from five active Facebook groups participated in this study. The findings indicate that individual characteristics, such as online personal identity, web-specific self-efficacy, and knowledge-creation self-efficacy significantly predict sharing of knowledge. In addition, intent to share knowledge mediates between the sharing of knowledge and online identity, web-specific self-efficacy, or knowledge-creation self-efficacy. The results reveal a need for customised support and environmental design focusing on online personal identity, web-specific self-efficacy, knowledge-creation self-efficacy, and intent to share knowledge in a knowledge-sharing community on SNS. Implications for the SNS communities and suggestions for further research are discussed.     

Leader delegation in global software teams: occurrence and effects

Global teams are an important work structure in software development projects. Managing such complex global software projects presents many challenges to traditional leadership wisdom, in particular, how, why and when the leaders should delegate responsibility and authority. Delegation is considered an important leadership component to motivate and grow subordinates. Cultural differences, skill level disparity and potential competition between different software development sites creates a management context which is much different from where traditional leadership theories were developed. This study investigates leader delegation behaviors in global software teams and explores the reasons and impact of delegation strategies on global team performance. Semi-structured interviews and a survey was used to collect data from global software team managers and members from four countries of a Fortune 100 IT service company. The results of this study include in-depth analysis of hows and whys of leader delegation in global teams and a theoretical model for analyzing global team leader delegation occurrence and effects.     

An examination of the antecedents and consequences of organizational IT innovation in hospitals

The healthcare industry is widely recognized as information-intensive and IT is considered to be an intrinsic component of the success of healthcare organizations such as hospitals. While both researchers and practitioners have argued that hospitals should aspire to be IT innovators, most tend to be IT laggards. An understanding of the factors that drive hospitals to become IT innovators remains an important phenomenon of interest. However, there is a lack of theory-driven empirical research that systematically investigates the factors that influence a hospital’s strategic choice to be an IT innovator and the influence of IT innovation on hospital performance. This study bridges the extant gaps in the literature by developing and testing an integrated model that seeks to understand why certain hospitals are IT innovators. Using IT innovation theory as our theoretical foundation, we examine three antecedents, including the chief information officer (CIO) strategic leadership, the top management team’s (TMT) attitude toward IT, and the hospital’s climate. Further, we examine the influence of IT innovation on the impact of IT within the hospital and the influence of IT impact on the hospital’s financial performance. The research model was tested using both survey and archival data from 70 matched pairs of hospital CIOs and executives. The quantitative analysis is supplemented with by interviews with 10 participating CIOs to further examine the relationship of the CIO to hospital IT innovation. The results suggest that the CIO strategic leadership and the TMT’s attitude toward IT are key factors that influence IT innovation; however, the influence of a hospital’s climate on organizational IT innovation is contingent upon the CIO’s level of strategic leadership. The results also suggest that hospitals that are IT innovators can generate greater impact from IT, which in turn results in greater performance for the hospital. Theoretical and practical implications as well as future research directions are discussed.     

The impact of close monitoring on creativity and knowledge sharing: The mediating role of leader‐member exchange

We examine the influence of supervisors' close monitoring on employees' creativity and knowledge sharing, both of which are important to the enhanced performance and survival of organizations in this era of uncertainty and change. We also identify the mechanism through which supervisors' close monitoring affects employees' creativity and knowledge sharing. A survey was conducted with military officers in South Korea, among whom supervisor–employee interactions occur daily. A regression analysis of 163 supervisor‐employee dyads shows that supervisors' close monitoring has a negative impact on employees' creativity and knowledge sharing; a mediation test using a bootstrapping methodology shows that supervisors' close monitoring has a significantly negative indirect impact on employees' creativity and knowledge sharing with leader‐member exchange (LMX) as the mediator. Our theoretical contribution is to provide an improved understanding of the relationships among the variables. We also offer a practical implication because our findings show that supervisors' close monitoring may hinder employees' creativity and knowledge sharing by undermining LMX.     

How do Individual‐Level Factors Affect the Creative Solution Formation Process of Teams?

The generation of creative solutions involves nonlinear dynamic procedures that can only be achieved through the creativity of individual team members. Thus, it is important to understand how the formation of individual‐level creativity factors influence the creative solution formation process. The creative solution formation process can be divided into four phases: idea generation, idea screening, idea development and solution verification. Prior research suggests that the creative process may be affected by motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic), knowledge stock (explicit and tacit), individual creativity (intelligence and divergent thinking), and pressure (challenge and time). We tested the effects of these eight factors on performance in the idea generation and idea development phases by conducting an experiment. Our results indicate that intrinsic motivation, intelligence and divergent thinking have a significant positive effect on both idea generation and idea development. Tacit knowledge and challenge pressure have a significant positive effect on idea generation. Time pressure has a significant negative effect on idea development. We also show that both idea generation and idea development have a significant impact on the quality of the final creative solution.