Organisational culture as an antecedent of knowledge sharing in NGOs

Abstract

ABSTRACT Knowledge sharing (KS) is a challenge for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) given its high turnover and the informal nature of KS. We examine KS in Portuguese NGOs by adopting the three levels of Schein’s theory of organisational culture: artefacts, norms/values, and basic assumptions. We test the influence of the three variables we propose to be proxies of the three levels: internal communication, ethical climate, and altruism. This study’s objective is to a) ascertain whether the different levels are correlated with each other, and b) to understand the effects of organisational variables on KS. We found evidence to sustain the correlation among the three levels showing that Schein’s theory is supported in the NGO’s. Our findings confirm that an ethical climate and altruism have a positive impact on KS. However, the analysis fails to support the influence of internal communication. Altogether, we conclude that organisational culture positively impacts KS at NGOs.