Knowledge sharing in context: the influence of organizational commitment, communication climate and CMC use on knowledge sharing

TLDR

Research seeks to identify factors that facilitate or hinder knowledge sharing within organizations. The study examines how organizational commitment, communication climate, and computer‑mediated communication influence knowledge sharing. The authors distinguish donating and collecting as two knowledge‑sharing processes and test hypotheses about them in six case studies. Results show that organizational commitment and a constructive communication climate boost both donating and collecting, CMC use enhances commitment, and that increased knowledge collecting leads to more donating, with implications for theory and practice.

Abstract

Determining which factors promote or impede the sharing of knowledge within groups and organizations constitutes an important area of research. This paper focuses on three such influences: “organizational commitment,” “organizational communication,” and the use of a specific instrument of communication – computer‐mediated communication (CMC). Two processes of knowledge sharing are distinguished: donating and collecting. A number of hypotheses are presented concerning the influence of commitment, climate and CMC on these processes. These hypotheses were tested in six case studies. The results suggest that commitment to the organization positively influences knowledge donating, and is in turn positively influenced by CMC use. Communication climate is found to be a key variable: a constructive communication climate was found to positively influence knowledge donating, knowledge collecting and affective commitment. Finally, a relationship was found that was not hypothesized: knowledge collecting influences knowledge donating in a positive sense – the more knowledge a person collects, the more he or she is willing to also donate knowledge to others. Based on these results, a number of theoretical and practical implications are discussed, and suggestions for further research are presented.