Adoption of Web based Knowledge Sharing Systems amongst Academic Staff

Knowledge sharing has been considered a significant component of success in Knowledge Management (KM). However, in most organizations KM is often inadequate when it comes to knowledge sharing. In order to encourage knowledge sharing using Web technology, it is important to know why staff do or do not use web based knowledge sharing systems (WKSS), when communicating internally and sharing knowledge via Web technology, and when and where this happens. Very few models have paid attention to examining user acceptance of omitting WKSS specifically in the academic context; therefore, the purpose of this research is to investigate the factors that affect academics’ behavior in accepting the use of WKSS. The WKSS model which has been developed model, and uses as its core the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), involving performance expectancy, effort expectancy and social influences. Minor changes in these factors are adopted, to enhance our understanding of WKSS acceptance and usage and additional factors are synthesized, which are trust in the technology and time expended. User acceptance of the developed WKSS model was tested and all the factors were confirmed. Index TermـــKnowledge management, Knowledge sharing technology, Web based Knowledge Sharing System (WKSS), Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT).