The Relationship between Management Support and Knowledge Sharing: An Exploratory Study of Manufacturing Firms

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/kpm.1506
• Date: 01 April 2016
• Published date: 01 April 2016

■Research Article

The Relationship between Management

Support and Knowledge Sharing: An

Exploratory Study of Manufacturing

Firms

Said Al Saifi

1

*, Stuart Dillon

2

and Robert McQueen

2

1

Department of International Business Administration, Nizwa College of Applied Sciences, Nizwa, Oman

2

Department of Management Systems, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

This research explores the relationship between management support and knowledge sharing. Qualitative data

gathered through semi-structured interviews was analysed using a Grounded Theory Methodology supported by

NVIVO qualitative data analysis software. The findings indicate that top and middle managers can play a significant

role in supporting knowledge sharing. The primary roles that were found include the following: encouraging partic-

ipation in decision-making; provision of recognition; breaking down organizational and personal barriers; building

up of teams; training, encouraging or assigning others to carry out training; encouragement of formal and informal

communication; encouraging learning; putting knowledge into practice; and, encouraging movement of employees.

The research findings have significant practical implications for managers, who can gain a deeper understanding of

the knowledge sharing culture of their companies and a clearer picture of what kind of factors influence a company’s

culture. Practitioners managing knowledge sharing within an organization can use these findings to improve their or-

ganization’s current practices and contribute to the development of its social structure, thus driving knowledge-

sharing effectiveness. This study extends previous research through the creation of a new, empirically-founded model

that clarifies the levels of decision-making, the direction of decision-making, and the direction and type of knowledge

that flows between top and middle managers and frontline employees. In addition, a model of management support

for knowledge sharing is proposed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

INTRODUCTION

The primary goal of this research is to explore the

relationship between management support and the

sharing of knowledge. Knowledge is recognized to

be the only resource that increases in value, so it is

worth putting great effort into managing it (Probst

et al., 2000; Witherspoon et al., 2013). This recogni-

tion has resulted in business increasingly concen-

trating on the intellectual capital of employees. In

fact, in an information economy, intellectual capital

becomes a critical metric for determining the eco-

nomic value of a company and forms a significant

part of their market value (Mouritsen et al., 2005;

Marti and Cabrita, 2012).

The process of sharing knowledge enables indi-

viduals to reflect on the effects of their behaviour

and actions, to gain insights from the environment

in which they operate, to understand their environ-

ment and, hence, to interpret meanings and respond

to them in an appropriate manner (Zainol and Zaki,

2010). Such actions will increase the rate of learning,

cut down the risk of not knowing and repeating

mistakes, and allow the retaining of knowledge as-

sets when people change roles, leave, or retire

(Dalkir, 2011).

The support of knowledge building and sharing

by management is recognized as one of the en-

ablers having a significant potential role in improv-

ing organizational knowledge (Unruh, 1997;

Connelly and Kelloway, 2003; Gupta, 2008).

Management support is vital to creating a suppor-

tive climate and supplying adequate resources for

building organizational knowledge (Lin, 2006).

For this reason, management support is an

*Correspondence to: Said Al Saifi, Department of International

Business Administration, Nizwa College of Applied Sciences,

Nizwa, Oman. E-mail: ensan12345@hotmail.com

Knowledge and Process Management

Volume 23 Number 2 pp 124–135 (2016)

Published online in Wiley Online Library

(www.wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/kpm.1506

Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.