Fon Sundaravej Behavioral Intention Formation in Knowledge Sharing: Examining the Roles of Extrinsic Motivators, Social-Psychological Forces, and

Organizational Climate By Gee-Woo Bock, Robert W. Zamud, Young-Gul Kim, and Jae-Nam Lee

The authors raise an issue of importance of a knowledge base in an organization. A critical problem regarding the knowledge base in an organization is making employees willing to transfer knowledge from an employee to other workers or to the organization. This problem arises from the employee himself (personal belief structure) or the organization climate (institutional structure). An employee may be anxious that he will lose his power or value by sharing his knowledge. It is believed that, without a reward to compensate his apprehension, the employee prefers to retain the knowledge. An organization may be afraid of knowledge stealing by competitors or information overloading of its employees. These causes result in a challenging task for an employer to learn the employees motivation in knowledge sharing and ultimately to improve the employees behavior and perception to share more knowledge in order to benefit the organization. This article employs a framework from the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and extrinsic motivators, social-psychological forces, and organizational climate to determine factors that support or impede knowledge sharing intention of employees in an organization. Based on the TRA, a person is willing to perform an action when he has a positive attitude and norm toward it. The authors assume that the more favorable the attitude or greater the subjective norm toward knowledge sharing are, the greater the intention to share knowledge will be. A previous study shows that knowledge sharing possibly occurs

IS 7894: Theoretical Foundation of Information Systems Research

Fon Sundaravej when an employee perceives an incentive by sharing the knowledge. In consequence, it is believed by the authors that the greater the anticipated extrinsic rewards are, the more favorable the attitude toward knowledge sharing will be. Additionally, a study demonstrates a social exchange relationship as a major determinant of a persons attitude. Thus, it is presumed that the greater the anticipated reciprocal relationships are, the more favorable the attitude toward knowledge sharing will be. The authors also propose that appropriate feedback is vital in knowledge sharing. The employee who receives feedback on the previous knowledge sharing, as a result, tends to improve his performance and contribution. It is conjectured that the greater the sense of self-worth through knowledge sharing behavior is, the more favorable the attitude toward knowledge sharing will be. In addition, the authors believe that an employee with a high sense of self-worth in knowledge sharing tends to realize the high expectation from others in knowledge sharing behavior and perform an action followed by such expectation. It is supposed that the greater the sense of self-worth through knowledge sharing behavior is, the greater the subjective norm to share knowledge will be. Moreover, a researcher suggests that a person motivated to obey a social rule is inclined to accept that rule. The authors, consequently, assume that the greater the subjective norm to share knowledge is, the more favorable the attitude toward knowledge sharing will be. Lastly, some previous studies present that the organizational climate is a significant determinant of knowledge sharing and influences subjective norms. Hence, it is supposed that the greater the extent to which the organizational climate is perceived to be characterized by fairness, innovativeness and affiliation, the greater the intention and subjective norm to share knowledge will be.

IS 7894: Theoretical Foundation of Information Systems Research

Fon Sundaravej To validate the factors of knowledge sharing based on the theory and previous research, interviews with chief information officers in five Korean organizations are conducted. The authors conclude that the motivations in knowledge sharing can be differentiated into three categories: economic which includes anticipated extrinsic rewards such as money or promotion; social-psychological: anticipated reciprocal relationships and sense of self-worth; and sociological: fairness, innovativeness, and affiliation. The authors also propose that the subjective norm and organizational climate directly and indirectly influence the intention of an employee to share knowledge. All these factors are utilized to construct a research model and hypotheses for the study. A questionnaire is distributed to 30 organizations in Korea with 259 responses returned. After the incomplete data elimination, there are 154 responses from 27 organizations. The partial least squares (PLS) method is used to measure the model and examine the structural relationship. To validate the model, the content validity to ensure the consistency between the questionnaire items and the previous research, the convergent validity to examine the reliability of items, and the discriminant validity to confirm the factor analysis are assessed. The results of the analysis prove several hypotheses. According to the TRA, a positive attitude toward knowledge sharing and subjective norm support the intention to share knowledge of an employee. Subjective norms can directly and indirectly influence intentions. A positive attitude toward knowledge sharing is influenced by anticipated reciprocal relationships rather than extrinsic rewards. Extrinsic rewards are found to deter rather than promote the positive attitude toward knowledge sharing, which contrasts to common thought. The sense of self-worth indirectly influences attitude toward

IS 7894: Theoretical Foundation of Information Systems Research

Fon Sundaravej knowledge sharing through subjective norms. The organizational climate influences both subjective norms and intention to share knowledge. However, the indirect influence through subjective norms is stronger than direct influence. At the end, the authors state some limitations and contributions of the study. Overall, this article is properly organized. The hypotheses are logically constructed based on a theory and prior research. The model is cautiously measured. The definition of the constructs and questionnaire items are explicitly explained. The weights and loadings of the measurement and the results of confirmatory factor analysis are clearly displayed. Finally, the experiment is well conducted and analyzed.

IS 7894: Theoretical Foundation of Information Systems Research