Knowledge sharing, job attitudes and organisational citizenship behaviour

Abstract

PurposeThere are very few studies on the impact of job attitude on knowledge sharing. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of job involvement, job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) on employees' knowledge sharing behaviour.Design/methodology/approachThis research is based on a survey of 116 Information Systems personnel in Malaysia. Structural equation modelling is used to test the hypothesis.FindingsThe results show that job involvement, job satisfaction and OCB are independent and positively related to employees' knowledge sharing behaviour. However, organisational commitment has a negative relationship with knowledge sharing behaviour. It is found that OCB is not a significant mediator between job involvement, job satisfaction organisational commitment and knowledge sharing behaviour.Research limitations/implicationsIt is widely reported that knowledge workers may not be willing to share with others since they can always argue that it is not their job to share. Therefore, knowledge sharing can be regarded as an extra job. OCB is an extra‐role behaviour which is especially relevant to research on knowledge sharing. Theories and research methods in OCB may be used in future research on knowledge sharing.Practical implicationsGiven the importance of knowledge sharing in today's competitive business world, this study provides a broader understanding of different dimensions of job attitudes in relation to employees' knowledge sharing behaviours. Our findings suggest that organisational administrators and managers should look into ways of improving the levels of job satisfaction, job involvement, and OCB in order to facilitate knowledge sharing behaviour.Originality/valueThis study makes two distinct additions to the organisational behaviour and knowledge sharing literature. First, job attitudes appear to be significantly related to knowledge sharing behaviour, addressing a research gap in the literature of knowledge sharing and employee attitudes. Second, this study reveals that OCB directly affects knowledge sharing but it does not mediate employees' job attitudes to promote knowledge sharing behaviours.