Management Learning · 2006 · 513 citations · 68 references
ManagementOrganization StudiesOrganizational BehaviorInterpersonal RelationshipsKnowledge SharingKnowledge TransferCollaborative Knowledge SharingKnowledge Sharing In OrganizationsPersonality TraitsTrait TheoryTrust In Knowledge SharingTrust In ManagementPropensity To TrustTrust In OrganizationsWorkplace Trust
Knowledge sharing is crucial for organizations, yet the influence of enduring personality traits such as agreeableness on this behavior remains underexplored. The study aims to examine how agreeableness, through interpersonal trust, affects knowledge sharing. The authors conceptualize a pathway where agreeableness predicts trust propensity, which in turn predicts knowledge sharing.
The strategic importance of knowledge sharing and its relationships with organizational and managerial (i.e. environmental) factors have been well documented. The effects of some context-specific individual factors—including interpersonal trust—on knowledge sharing have also been investigated. The effects of enduring and pervasive individual factors (i.e, personality) on knowledge sharing have not been adequately described empirically. This article links personality, specifically agreeableness, a broad personality domain and propensity to trust, a narrow personality facet, to knowledge sharing via interpersonal trust, thereby clarifying substantial person-related effects within these important workplace phenomena.
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