Factors Influence Information and Knowledge Sharing in Organization

In today's business environment, competitive advantage increasingly requires the open sharing of knowledge by organizational members [22]. Although the practitioners place emphasis on the importance of knowledge sharing, empirical researches on knowledge sharing are still limited, and little research has been done to understand the factors that influence knowledge sharing in organizations. This study investigates cultural and interpersonal factors that influence an individual’s propensity to share information and knowledge that he or she has created. Three different situations of sharing (information product, self-developed knowledge and organization-developed knowledge) were considered. The study found that organization culture influenced individual’s beliefs of organization trust and psychological safety, and those who perceived higher trust and psychological safety seemed more likely to share information and knowledge with others. Keyword: knowledge management, knowledge sharing, organizational culture, trust, psychological safety