Factors affecting knowledge sharing in special education—A Jordanian study

• Date: 01 January 2019
• Author: Abed Al‐Fatah Karasneh,Manal Al‐zoubi
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/kpm.1588
• Published date: 01 January 2019

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Factors affecting knowledge sharing in special education—A

Jordanian study

Abed Al‐Fatah Karasneh

1

|Manal Al‐zoubi

2

1

Business Department, Yarmouk University,

Irbid, Jordan

2

Educational Science Researcher, Irbid, Jordan

Correspondence

Abed Al‐Fatah Karasneh, Business

Department, Yarmouk University, Shafiq

Irshidat St., Irbid, Jordan.

Email: akarasneh@yu.edu.jo

Knowledge sharing (KS) is a critical factor in both governmental and nongovernmental

organizations. The synthesis of KS literatures reveals different factors (i.e., employees'

creativity; support of top management; and trust among employees, formalization,

centralization, and technology infrastructure) of organizational culture, structure,

and Infrastructure. This study investigates the influence of these factors on KS. A

questionnaire has been developed to collect data. The population of this study con-

sists of all special education centers in Jordan, resulting in (195) individual question-

naires for data analysis. The questionnaire was shown to be reliable and valid.

Subsequently, relevant statistical analysis has been carried out. The results show that

organizational structure factors (i.e., formalization, centralization, and technology

infrastructure) are significant and have a strong influence on KS whereas organiza-

tional culture factors (i.e., employees' creativity, support of top management, and trust

among employees) are insignificant and have a negative influence on KS at the sur-

veyed centers.

1|INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, our global environment is referred to as turbulent, unsta-

ble, and dynamic. Knowledge has become a key determinant to cope

with this environment and enable organizations to achieve a compet-

itive advantage. Hansen and Avital (2005) argue that knowledge shar-

ing (KS) is one of the central concepts for the objectives of knowledge

management. Von Krogh (2003) indicates that although KS is an insep-

arable part of knowledge management, it continues to be a shaded

area of study. Therefore, authors and scholars attempt to clarify its

importance and impact on productivity and competitiveness. Subse-

quently, many authors view KS as a socialization process (Nonaka &

Konoo, 1998); a transfer of knowledge and best practice (Wiig,

1997); an organizational context platform (Nonaka & Takeuchi,

1995); and an activity in which knowledge is shared among people,

groups, or organizations (Lee, 2001).

In this paper, the authors study the importance of KS among pro-

fessionals at special education centers in Jordan. Special education

centers seek to provide educational services to individuals with special

disabilities. The competitive advantage of these centers lies in the spe-

cialists' capability to achieve its aim and to engage that category of

people healthily with society. Lin (2007) defines KS “as a social

interaction culture, involving the exchange of employee knowledge,

experiences, and skills through the whole department or organization.”

Yet the absence of a KS environment among specialists creates a gap

in specialists' endeavors to achieve their job objectives due to the

unconscious monopolization of beneficial educational methods that

will improve the lives of those individuals. Therefore, the problem of

this study seeks the identification of valid organizational factors (i.e.,

employees' creativity, support of top management, trust among

employees, formalization, centralization, and IT infrastructure) on spe-

cialists' KS capabilities at special education centers in Jordan.

This study identifies a new managerial knowledgeable topic that

touches the essence of contemporary work environment. It aims to

suggest mechanisms to develop and activate the impact of organiza-

tional factors on KS for those centers. Moreover, this study may shape

the thinking abilities of specialists at special education centers in par-

ticular and employees in Jordanian organizations in general to gain and

share knowledge to achieve the organization's objectives.

To the knowledge of researchers, no attempt has been taken to

investigate this influence in any Jordanian sector. Thus, this study tries

to develop a KS mechanism to help Jordanian organizations in general

and special education centers in particular to create value and

sustained organizational success that according to (Ellis, 2016 p. 161)

Received: 7 March 2018 Accepted: 6 August 2018

DOI: 10.1002/kpm.1588

Knowl Process Manag. 2019;26:41–50. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/kpm 41