Knowledge Sharing on Enterprise Social Media-Episode Four

Practical Implications

So, what are the implications?

Knowing about those 11 intrinsic motivation factors highlighted in the evidence identified by this research, can organizations do something to further promote knowledge sharing on enterprise social media and encourage individuals to donate their knowledge? Organizations should definitely attempt to leverage those factors since knowledge donation is a key success factor of knowledge management (Du, Ai, & Ren, 2007), and the success of knowledge management helps organizations maintain their competitive advantage (Rahimli, 2012).

Promoting organizational cultures and supportive environments that nurture those motivating factors and encouraging the corresponding behaviors in individuals within the organization is one such initiative that organizations could consider implementing. For example, management could value, support, and encourage knowledge-sharing behaviors on the organization’s enterprise social media. As such, managers can play an instrumental role in dissipating knowledge management barriers and shaping a supportive organizational culture that embraces and encourages knowledge sharing (Hung et al., 2011 as cited in Razmerita, Kirchner, & Nielsen, 2016).

Incorporating knowledge-sharing behavior indicators or measurements into performance appraisals that are designed with a developmental focus rather than an evaluative focus is another way of enhancing intrinsically motivated knowledge sharing (Gagné, 2009). Developmentally focused appraisals have been shown to enhance intrinsic motivation as well as performance (Kuvaas, 2007 as cited in Gagné, 2009).

One additional example involves training. Delivering training that promotes sharing norms endorsement and shows employees how to share effectively may affect employees’ knowledge-sharing behavior in a positive manner (Gagné, 2009).

Organizations can also leverage the relatedness driven intrinsic motivations. One example of that involves cultivating a productive social environment that supports both individual and organizational goals while encouraging participation and appropriate interactions. This can help strengthen relationships among individuals within the organization. Another example involves recognizing individuals who are motivated to share on the organization’s enterprise social media and promoting them as early adopters of the platform to encourage their colleagues’ engagement and knowledge sharing (Shaarawy & Abdelghaffar, 2017).

Leaders and managers can also engage and communicate on the enterprise social media, thus providing social cues with a direct effect on how the individual network members act in response to new information (Fulk, 1993). This is known to affect team members’ acceptance and use of the enterprise social media, which will consequently affect the success of knowledge sharing on it (Ellison, Gibbs, & Weber, 2015).

Possible Limitations

Although this study collected and screened 259 research articles, the 20 retained articles that were included in this systematic review, may constitute a relatively limited total number of studies, which may have correspondingly limited the findings. Equally, the number of studies within the meta-analyses or systematic review studies included, and the sample sizes of the included primary research studies may limit the generalizability of the findings. Also, in spite of the rigorous measures applied during the study to maintain transparency and avoid bias, it is not impossible that some residual bias may exist in any of the included studies or in the systematic review itself.

Suggestions for Future Research

As such, encompassing more and larger studies in future research would help improve the findings. Further research may also look into identifying extrinsic motivation factors that positively affect knowledge sharing on enterprise social media. Future research may also examine additional organizational, cultural, and leadership factors that could cultivate the intrinsic motivation factors identified in this study. Finally, and in view of the conflicting finding of Rode (2016), who noted no significant relationship between altruism and knowledge sharing, it would be helpful to verify this finding in order to understand why Rode contradicted the many other researchers who found evidence of a positive relationship between altruism and knowledge sharing on enterprise social media within organizations.

More in the making

This fourth episode concludes in the hope that this series has helped provide an interesting, informative, and easy to read and understand overview of knowledge management and how organizations can leverage intrinsic motivation factors in human behavior to promote the success of knowledge management initiatives. Although this is the last episode of this series, there are other equally interesting and informative blog posts in the works. In the meantime, your comments, thoughts, and feedback are highly appreciated.

                                                                                                            Stay tuned…

References

Du, R., Ai, S., & Ren, Y. (2007). Relationship between knowledge sharing and performance: A survey in Xi’an, China. Expert Systems With Applications, 32, 38-46. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.umuc.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edselp&AN=S0957417405003052&site=eds-live&scope=site

Ellison, N. B., Gibbs, J. L., & Weber, M. S. (2015). The use of enterprise social network sites for knowledge sharing in distributed organizations: The role of organizational affordances. American Behavioral Scientist, 59(1), 103-123.

Fulk, J. (1993, 10). Social construction of communication technology. Academy of Management Journal, 36, 921-950. doi:10.2307/256641

Gagné, M. (2009, 7). A model of knowledge-sharing motivation. Human Resource Management, 48(4), 571-589. doi:10.1002/hrm.20298

Rahimli, A. (2012). Knowledge management and competitive advantage. Information and Knowledge Management, 2, pp. 37-43.

Razmerita, L., Kirchner, K., & Nielsen, P. (2016). What factors influence knowledge sharing in organizations? A social dilemma perspective of social media communication. Journal of Knowledge Management, 20(6), 1225-1246. doi:10.1108/JKM-03-2016-0112

Rode, H. (2016). To share or not to share: the effects of extrinsic and intrinsic motivations on knowledge-sharing in enterprise social media platforms. Journal of Information Technology (Palgrave Macmillan), 31(2), 152-165. doi:10.1057/jit.2016.8

Shaarawy, N., & Abdelghaffar, H. (2017). Achieving successful knowledge sharing through enterprise social network collaboration. The Business & Management Review, 8(5), 1-15.