The Motivators and Benefits of Sharing Knowledge to a KMS Repository in an Omani Organization

Knowledge is a powerful resource that enables individuals and organizations to achieve several benefits such as improved learning and decisionmaking. Repository knowledge management system (KMS) assists organizations to efficiently capture their knowledge for later reuse. However, the breadth and depth of a knowledge management system depends on the magnitude of knowledge contributed to the system. This paper aimed to empirically investigate the motivators of knowledge sharing behavior and the individual benefits of such behavior in a culture where knowledge is perceived as power and private. Based on 104 employees in a major private petroleum organization in Oman and the partial least square analysis methodology, the results suggested that knowledge contributors were motivated by the system technical characteristics and the organizational-culture dimensions such as management support and rewards policy. Information technology service quality and peers trustworthiness were not significant motivators for sharing knowledge.