Examination of the relationship between competitive work environment and employees’ openness to knowledge sharing

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a competitive work environment on openness to knowledge sharing. A conceptual model, drawing on the existing literature, is developed to analyze how a competitive work environment contributes to openness to sharing knowledge among employees in organizations. The conceptual model includes coworker desire to learn as a mediating variable and incentives to knowledge sharing and job security as moderating variables. Data collected from eight banks with a total of 237 employees is used to test the research hypotheses using structural equation modeling techniques. The results show that coworker desire to learn mediates the relationship between a competitive work environment and openness to knowledge sharing, and both incentives to knowledge sharing and job security moderate the effect of a competitive work environment on openness to knowledge sharing. The study makes theoretical and practical contributions to knowledge management by showing the mechanism through which a competitive work environment contributes to openness to sharing knowledge in organizations. Keywords: Competitive workplace; desire to learn; job security; knowledge sharing.