Supporting Knowledge Sharing Visibility: A Qualitative Analysis

Knowledge sharing visibility is a critical environmental factor which can reduce social loafing in knowledge sharing. This is especially true in IT-based knowledge sharing. As such, it is imperative that we better understand how to design IT-based Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) to support high knowledge sharing visibility. This paper examines the impact of knowledge management technology functions (e.g., tracking, knowledge storing) on knowledge sharing visibility through qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with participants in a Chinese company. Impact and implications of use for their existing KMS are examined. Results encourage applied statistical, tracking, knowledge distribution and knowledge storing functions for monitoring explicit knowledge sharing, and suggest integration of knowledge maps with communication tools (e.g., instant messenger) to support visibility for implicit knowledge sharing. Extension to use of web 2.0 technologies (e.g., weblogs) in KMS is also explored.