Need‐to‐know Cultures: an Investigation into Intra‐organisational and Extra‐organisational Knowledge Sharing Cultures in Local Government in the UK

Abstract

This paper presents the findings of research that aimed to compare cultures associated with intra‐organisation and extra‐organisational knowledge sharing and to investigate whether the concepts of need‐to‐know culture in each context are related. The research tested the following hypothesis: are organisations that are more open to releasing information to the public through freedom of information (FOI) also better at internal knowledge sharing?This research used the UK local government sector as a context by targeting self‐completion questionnaires to FOI practitioners in councils in England. The questionnaire asked FOI practitioners to assess attitudes to knowledge sharing and FOI requests within their organisation, providing attitudinal ratings and illustrative comments.The research found that respondents who thought that their organisation had a stronger knowledge sharing culture also rated the organisation more highly on aspects of FOI culture. This suggests that the different concepts of need‐to‐know culture are related and that it is likely that there are important cultural elements that support both FOI and knowledge sharing.Freedom of information is a subject with considerable implications for both public and private sector organisations internationally. The research is significant in directly investigating the connections between FOI and knowledge management and in comparing the cultural aspects of these practices in the public sector, a topic where there is little existing literature. The findings of this research will have implications for those trying to overcome need‐to‐know culture within an organisation. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.