Tacit Knowledge Sharing: An Integration of Social Capital and Transformative Learning Theories

Abstract

Tacit knowledge ingrained in individual brains can be shared and applied efficiently only with the active involvement and cooperation of the knowledge source and recipient. Since tacit knowledge sharing is not mandated by organizations, employees often view it as a time consuming activity. This turns out to be a potential hindrance to workplace learning and hence, identifying factors that drive employees to voluntarily engage in tacit knowledge-sharing constitutes an important research area. This study aims to empirically examine how the perception of social capital in work teams motivates individuals to voluntarily engage in tacit knowledge sharing with teammates, and the subsequent impact on individual creative performance. Questionnaire-based survey was employed and data was collected from 440 professionals working in the Information Technology industry. Structural equation modeling using AMOS 22 was used for hypothesis testing. As per the findings of the study, all social capital dimensions, except shared language and shared language, demonstrate a significant positive influence on tacit knowledge contribution and knowledge seeking behavior of employees. The results also provide evidence that point to a significant positive relationship between tacit knowledge contribution, tacit knowledge seeking and creative performance of employees. Furthermore, the moderating role of bisociative cognitive style of individuals on the association between tacit knowledge sharing behavior and creative performance is confirmed.