Team innovation climate and knowledge sharing among healthcare managers: mediating effects of altruistic intentions.

BACKGROUND This paper aims to provide empirical evidence concerning the impact of team climate on knowledge sharing behavior and the mediating effects of individuals' altruistic intentions in the context of healthcare settings. METHODS Questionnaire data were collected from 212 administrators employed at a medical center in Taiwan. Team climate was assessed by the Team Climate Inventory composed of four factors, participative safety, support for innovation, vision, and task orientation. The proposed hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling. RESULTS The influence of the team innovation climate on knowledge sharing behavior was evident. Furthermore, individuals' altruistic intentions played a full mediating role in the relationship between team innovation climate and knowledge sharing behavior. CONCLUSIONS These results contribute to the field of the people-orientated perspective in knowledge management. The full mediating effect of employees' altruistic intentions provides healthcare team managers the direction to accelerate knowledge sharing behavior.