Linkage between contextual factors, knowledge‐sharing mediums, and behaviour: Moderating effect of knowledge‐sharing intentions

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/kpm.1558
• Date: 01 January 2018
• Author: Susmita Mukhopadhyay,Toshali Dey
• Published date: 01 January 2018

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Linkage between contextual factors, knowledge‐sharing

mediums, and behaviour: Moderating effect of knowledge‐

sharing intentions

Toshali Dey |Susmita Mukhopadhyay

Vinod Gupta School of Management, Indian

Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, Kharagpur,

West Bengal, India

Correspondence

Toshali Dey, Vinod Gupta School of

Management (VGSOM), Indian Institute of

Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal 721302,

India.

Email: toshali.dey@iitkgp.ac.in

In today's competitive and dynamic economy, knowledge‐intensive organisations constantly face

challenges for sustenance. Therefore, successful knowledge management (KM) system is viewed

as an important factor to maintain competitive advantage. These days, knowledge‐sharing prac-

tices are encouraged in organisations to improve performance of the human assets. However,

the behaviour of employees determines the success of potential KM system of organisations,

which often fails due to various organisational and individual factors. On the basis of prior litera-

ture, this paper investigates the effect of varying internal and external dimensions,which are con-

textual factors, knowledge‐sharing mediums (KSM), and knowledge‐sharing intentions on

knowledge‐sharing behaviour (KSB) of employees. Data were gatheredfrom a sample of 231 man-

agers of various public sector units in India. The results are analysed using hierarchical multiple

regression. The outcomes of this study show the impact of contextual factors and KSM on KSB.

Further analysis leads to the conclusion that there is a moderating effect of knowledge‐sharing

intentions on this relationship. This research intends to contribute the understanding of KSB to

help managers in promoting knowledge sharing and hence developing knowledge base in organisa-

tions. This study will also encourage better managerial practices to build an environment for knowl-

edge dissemination. Moreover, it also provides insight related to importance of KSM in promoting

efficient KM processes, making this article important for both practitioners and academicians.

1|INTRODUCTION

Over the past few decades, with the gradual evolution of knowledge‐

driven economy, it became very important for organisations to manage

physical as well as intangible assets to sustain in a competitive era

(Choo & Bontis, 2002; Reychav & Weisberg, 2009). Consequently,

organisations have been acknowledging knowledge as one of the most

important intangible resource, whose value can only be achieved by

creating, sharing and implementing it within and outside organisations

(Gupta & Govindarajan, 2000). The process of sharing knowledge

(Martelo‐Landroguez & Cegarra‐Navarro, 2014) continues to grab

attention of researchers, as it facilitates the creation (Pillania, 2008a)

and dissemination of new and improved knowledge and enhances the

practiceof decision making (Hernández‐González & Corral,2017). There

are several internal as well as external factors, which control the

knowledge‐sharing behaviour (KSB) and often cause knowledge‐hiding

behaviour (Geofroy & Evans, 2017; Huo, Cai, Luo, & Jia, 2016) and

eventually leadto knowledge loss (Wensley & Navarro, 2015).

Scholars suggested that KSB of the employees of organisations is

broadly affected by various external factors that prevail within the

working environment of the organisation (Cummings & Teng, 2003;

Teng, 2006; Yoo & Torrey, 2002). These factors include the nature of

knowledge, organisational culture, and technological factors

(Cummings & Teng, 2003, 2006). Several research articles have men-

tioned the important contribution of knowledge‐sharing mediums

(KSM) in the dissemination of knowledge. In their study, Haas and

Hansen (2007) discussed about benefits of various ways of transfer-

ring knowledge in knowledge management (KM) systems. In addition,

researchers and practitioners in the field of KM have been examining

the macrolevel personality traits, which drift them towards or away

from sharing their knowledge (Aliakbar, Yusoff, & Mahmood, 2012;

Bock, Zmud, Kim, & Lee, 2005).

The concepts of external contextual factors, KSM, and internal

factors such as behavioural intentions of employees had been

discussed individually with KSB in previous studies (Bock et al., 2005;

Cummings & Teng, 2003; Gressgård, 2015; Haas & Hansen, 2007).

However, empirical evidence is needed to study the interactive effects

of the external factors in the presence of complicated individual inten-

tions to modify the KSB of employees. To achieve a whole picture, this

study attempts to examine the effect of contextual factors and KSM

Received: 11 May 2017 Accepted: 22 December 2017

DOI: 10.1002/kpm.1558

Knowl Process Manag. 2018;25:31–40. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/kpm 31