Gender Differences and Readiness Towards Knowledge Sharing among Remote Working IT Sector Employees

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic exerted a significant impact on various spheres of the functioning of an individual, including the area of professional functioning. One of these changes was the spread of remote working, which in turn led to the greater interest in this form of work and the search for effective solutions that support labour efficiency in these particular conditions. An important problem of remote working that is associated with the restriction of face to face communication, is the sharing of knowledge amongst the employees. The aim of the paper was to analyse the differences in the readiness to share knowledge in conditions of remote working in the IT sector between women and men depending on the chosen demographic factors and factors relating to work. The study included 112 employees from the IT industry who worked remotely at the moment of conducting the research. A self-designed survey was availed of in the research which encompassed the following: demographic data (sex type and age of those analysed, being in a relationship, number of children), variables associated with work (position held in the firm, job seniority, number of hours of remote work), while also questions relating to sharing knowledge with co-workers. In the analysed group of employees of the IT sector working remotely, a greater readiness to share knowledge was noted amongst men as compared to women. Furthermore, as the effect of intragroup comparisons, the following was noted: older women were more willing to share knowledge than younger women, raising three or more children, while also more than women who do not have children, whereas women in relationships were more willing to share knowledge than single women. In turn, in the group of men the differences were only evident in the sphere of job seniority. Longer job seniority turned out to be favourable towards the readiness to share knowledge. The research findings significantly broaden knowledge in the sphere of the individual factors influencing the effective organization of the process of knowledge management, while particularly knowledge sharing in conditions of remote working. This knowledge may be particularly useful for managers of the IT sector.