Knowledge Sharing Through Enterprise Social Media in a Telecommunications Context

Hajir Al-Mawali,Kamla Ali Al-Busaidi

doi:10.4018/ijkm.291706

Hajir Al-Mawali, Kamla Ali Al-Busaidi

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4018/ijkm.291706

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Abstract

This study investigated the motivators knowledge workers employ when sharing knowledge though enterprise social media (ESM) in a telecommunications context. A questionnaire was distributed among knowledge workers in one of the leading telecommunication companies in the Sultanate of Oman. Based on the Structural Equation Modelling-Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) analysis of 100 responses from knowledge workers, results showed that technological motivators had significant effects on knowledge workers’ knowledge sharing through ESM. Further analysis based on the knowledge type indicated that technological motivators and organizational motivators significantly impact knowledge workers’ tacit knowledge sharing, whereas only technological motivators impact knowledge workers’ explicit knowledge sharing. This study provides decision makers with useful insights on the motivators of sharing knowledge through ESM and further advances knowledge workers’ learning and business operations, especially in under-investigated countries.

Highlights

Knowledge is recognized as a vital element for organizations in the pursuit and gain of competitive advantage (Nguyen & Prentice, 2020; Asrar-ul-Haq & Anwar, 2016; Davenport & Prusak, 1998)
In terms of tacit Knowledge sharing (KS), the results reveal a significant influence in both organizational motivators (β = 0.263; p-value = 0.036) and technological motivators (β = 0.618; p-value = 0.000) among knowledge workers to use enterprise social media (ESM) for sharing tacit knowledge, as indicated in Figure 4 individual motivators (β = 0.035; p-value = 0.755) and peer motivators (β = -0.139; p-value = 0.368) had an insignificant impact on sharing tacit knowledge through ESM
Adjusted R2 value indicated that there was a 50.3% variance, which can be described as a moderate value as recommended by Chin (1998), in knowledge workers’ usage of ESM to share tacit knowledge

Summary

Introduction

Knowledge is recognized as a vital element for organizations in the pursuit and gain of competitive advantage (Nguyen & Prentice, 2020; Asrar-ul-Haq & Anwar, 2016; Davenport & Prusak, 1998). Knowledge sharing (KS) is defined as process of transferring knowledge between individuals, groups, departments, or across all levels of an organization (Davenport & Prusak, 1998; Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995), allowing workers to solve problems and provide new ideas. It communicates both tacit and explicit knowledge between individuals, allowing an effective transfer. Examples of professional ESM include Salesforce’s Chatter, IBM’s Social Blue, Socialtext, MediaWiki, IBM’s Dogear, Microsoft’s SharePoint, Yammer, IBM’s Connections, Jive from Jive Software, PARC’s SparTag, Oracle’s Social Network, Cisco’s WebEx Social, eXo Platform, Telligent, Socialcast, and Ingage Networks (Rahman, 2020; Wei et al, 2020; Aboelmaged, 2018; Leonardi et al, 2013)

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