FACTORS INFLUENCING INTENTION TO SHARE INFORMATION IN AN ORGANIZATION INTRODUCTION

In a growing organization, information sharing is very important where it will lead to reduced mistakes, allow quick resolution, allow quick problem solving, quicken the learning process and importantly all this will lead towards cost saving. In the current fast moving situation where mergers, acquisitions and Technologies or product transfer from USA to Asian countries like Malaysia, China and India, information is an important asset for companies to ensure products are transferred smoothly and learning process to be shortened. Preserving and sharing of information is very important to remain competitive in changing landscape of the increasingly globalized business world. The information intensive organizations have revolutionized economics and industry as much, the inventions that led to the industrial revolution in the Eighteenth Century. Another key element is people need to work smarter instead of work harder. Many companies today are beginning to feel that information of their employees is very important and it is an asset that cannot be purchased using money. Information is a personal capability like skills, experience people learn and intelligence to make judgments. This capability can be acquired by an individual as a result of seeing, listening to or feeling (physically or emotionally) something. What a person reads, sees, hears or feels is not the information; rather it is the medium through which information may be transferred.

Research Problem
Individuals do not share information without personal benefits. Personal belief can change individuals thought of benefit and having self satisfaction will encourage information sharing. Information sharing not only save employer and employees time (Gibbert and Krause, 2002) but doing so in an organizational setting results in the classic public good dilemma (Barry and Hardin, 1982; Marwell and Oliver, 1983). Lack of sufficient rewards has been known to be common barrier for information sharing. Kalling and Styhe (2003) commented the relative lack of attention given for motivational factors that can influence information sharing in the literature. Thus this research endeavors to study the factors that may lead to information sharing in an organization.

Research Objectives
The main objective of this research is to identify factors influencing the intention to share in the organization. Thus it hopes to achieve the following objectives: 1. 2. 3. 4. To understand or to gauge the behavioral intention to share information in an organization, To identify differences in behavioral intention to share across various characteristics of the respondents such as gender, position, department and education level, To model the impact of expected rewards, reciprocal relationship, expected contribution, self worth and climate on the intention to share information among employees in an organization. To gauge the moderating impact of work experience in the organization on the above relationship

In order to achieve the above objectives, the following research questions were posed for this study: 1. 2. How high is the level of intention to share information in this organization? Does behavioral intention vary across various demographic profiles of the respondents, such as gender, position, department and education level?

3. 4.

What are the impacts of expected rewards, reciprocal relationship, expected contribution, self worth and climate on the intention to share information among employees in this organization? Does work experience in the organization moderate the above relationship?

Research Framework Expected Rewards Reciprocal relationship Expected contribution Self worth Climate
Organization

Intention to share information

Experience

Figure 1 Research Framework Hypotheses

H1: H2: H3: H4: H5: H6: Expected Rewards will be positively related to intention to share information Reciprocal relationship will be positively related to intention to share information Expected contribution will be positively related to intention to share information Self worth will be positively related to intention to share information Climate will be positively related to intention to share information The relationship between expected rewards, reciprocal relationship, expected contribution, self worth, climate and intention to share will be enhanced when an employee has higher organizational tenure

Population and sample

The population of interest is defined as all employees in one multinational company operating in the Bayan Lepas Free Trade Zone. Data was collected by means of questionnaires. A survey was conducted in order to determine user intention to share information in this organization. Data collection was conducted from end of Jan to end of February, 2006. The questionnaires were handed out to employees in this organization and they were collected immediately after they were completed.

Variables and Questionnaire Design

To measure the variables of the study, various sources were used and these are summarized in the table below, together with information regarding the layout of the questionnaire.

The Measures and Layout of the questionnaire.

Section Variable Identification Number Response Classification Personal data Expected Rewards (Reward1 Reward3) Items Early vs Late Responses The degree to which one believes that one can have extrinsic incentives due to ones information sharing The degree to which one believes one can improve mutual relationships with others through ones information sharing The degree to which ones positive cognition based on ones feeling of personal contribution to the organization (through ones information sharing behavior) The degree to which one believes that one can improve the organizations performance through ones information sharing The degree of ones positive feelings about sharing ones information The degree to which one believes that people who bear pressure on ones actions expect one to perform the behavior The degree to which one believes that one will engage in information sharing act The extent to which the climate is perceived to be fair The degree to which one perceives it to be easy or difficult to perform the information sharing behavior The extent to which one uses the various IT tools available in the organization The extent to which one actually shares the information that he/she possesses 7 3 Bock (2005) et al. Source

Reciprocal relationship (Recip1 Recip5)

Bock (2005)

et

al.

Self Worth (Sw1 Sw5)

Bock (2005)

et

al.

Expected contribution (Ec1 Ec3)

Bock (2005)

et

al.

Attitude towards sharing (Att1 Att5) Subjective norm (Sn1 Sn4)

Bock (2005) Bock (2005)

et

al.

et

al.

Intention to share (Intent1 Intent5) Climate (Climate1 Climate6) Perceived Behavioral Control (Pbc1 Pbc4) IT Usage (It1 It5) Actual Information Sharing (Share1 Share3)

Bock (2005)

et

al.

H I

6 4

Bock et al. (2005) Chang, 1998; Chau and Hu, 2001 Self developed

Adapted from Bock et al. (2005)

REFERENCES Barry, B. and Hardin, R. (1982). Rational Man and Irrational Society? Sage Publications: Newbury Park, CA. Bock, Gee-Woo, Zmud, R. W., Kim, Young-Gul and Lee, Jae-Nam (2005). Behavioral Intention Formation in Knowledge Sharing: Examining the Roles of Extrinsic Motivators, SocialPsychological Forces, and Organizational Climate, MIS Quarterly, 29(1), 87-111 Chang, M. K. (1998). Predicting unethical behavior: a comparison of the theory of reasoned action and the theory of planned behavior, Journal of Business Ethics, 17(16), 18251834.

Chau, P. Y. K., and Hu, P. J.-H. (2001). Information technology acceptance by individual professionals: a model comparison approach, Decision Sciences, 32(4), 699719. Gibbert, M. and Krause, H. (2002). Practice Exchange in a Best Practice Marketplace, in Knowledge Management Case Book: Siemens Best Practices, T. H. Davenport and G. J. B. Probst (Eds.), Publicis Corporate Publishing, Erlangen, Germany, pp. 89-105. Marwell, G. and Oliver, P. (1993). The Critical Mass in Collective Action: A Micro-social Theory, Cambridge University Press: New York. Kalling, T. and Styhre, A. (2003). Knowledge Sharing in Organizations, Copenhagen Business School Press: Copenhagen, Denmark. QUESTIONNAIRE 1. Your Gender Male 2. Your age 3. Number of years working in the organization 4. Number of years of working experience 5. Department 1. 3. 5. 7. 9. 11. Sales & purchasing Subcon management Test Material HR Others 1. 3. 5. 1. 3. 5. 2. 4. 6. 8. 10. R&D Production QA Engineering Marketing 2. 4. 6. 2. 4. 6. Engineer Manager Others Diploma Master Degree Others Strongly Agree 5 1. Female __________Years __________Years __________Years 2.

6. Current Position

Technician Sr Engineer Above Managers level Secondary or lower First Degree PHD Neutral 3 Agreed 4

7. Level of education

Strongly Disagree 1

Disagree 2

A. REWARD In this section describe share your thought of yourself sharing information when reward system is in place. Please circle the appropriate number on each scale. I will consider sharing valuable information if I am well rewarded I will receive rewards in return for my information sharing I will receive additional points for promotion for my information sharing 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5

B. RECIPROCAL RELATIONSHIP This section is to understand believe of an individual can improve relationship with others thru knowledge sharing. Please circle the appropriate number on each scale. My information sharing would strengthen the relationship between existing members in the organization and myself My information sharing will get me well acquainted with new members in the organization My information sharing would expand the scope of my association with other members in the organization My information sharing would draw smooth cooperation from outstanding members in the future My information sharing would create strong relationships with members who have common interests in the organization

1 1 1 1 1

2 2 2 2 2

3 3 3 3 3

4 4 4 4 4

5 5 5 5 5

C. SELF WORTH This section is to understand your positive cognition towards information sharing to an organization. Please circle the appropriate number on each scale. My information sharing would help other members in the organization solve problems My information sharing would create new business opportunities for the organization My information sharing would improve work processes in the organization My information sharing would increase productivity in the organization My information sharing would help the organization achieve its performance objectives D. EXPECTED CONTRIBUTIONS Please circle the appropriate number on each scale. My information sharing would help the organization to achieve higher productivity My information sharing would help the organization to achieve higher efficiency My information sharing would help the organization to achieve its performance objectives 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5

E. ATTITUDE This section is to understand your feelings towards information sharing. Please circle the appropriate number on each scale. My information sharing with other organizational members is good My information sharing with other organizational members is harmful My information sharing with other organizational members is an enjoyable experience My information sharing with other organizational 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5

members is valuable to me My information sharing with other organizational members is a wise move

F. SUBJECTIVE NORM This section is to understand your behavior when someone applies pressure on information sharing. Please circle the appropriate number on each scale. My higher management thinks I should share information with other member in the organization and factory My manager thinks I should share information with other member in the organization and factory My colleagues think I should share information with other member in the organization and factory My organization expects me to share information

1 1 1 1

2 2 2 2

3 3 3 3

4 4 4 4

5 5 5 5

G. INTENTION This section is to understand your engagement in an explicit and implicit on information sharing. Please circle the appropriate number on each scale. I will share my work reports and official documents with members of my organization more frequently in the future I will always provide manuals, methodologies and models for members of my organization I intend to share my experience or know-how from work with other organizational members more frequently in the future I will always provide my know-where or know-whom at the request of other organizational members I will try to share expertise from my education or training with other organization members in a more effective way

1 1 1 1 1

2 2 2 2 2

3 3 3 3 3

4 4 4 4 4

5 5 5 5 5

H. CLIMATE This section is to understand your togetherness, perception that organization practices are equitable and encourage information sharing in an organization. Please circle the appropriate number on each scale. Members in my organization keep close ties with each others Members in my department have good cooperation My department encourage suggestion and ideas for new opportunity My department put much value on taking risk even if the idea turns out to be failure I can trust my managers evaluation to be good My manager doesnt show favoritism to anyone of in our department. 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5

I. PERCEIVED BEHAVIORAL CONTROL This section is to understand your ease or difficult to perform the information sharing. Please circle the appropriate number on each scale. It is always possible for me to share information with members in my organization I believe that there are much control I have to share my knowledge with others in my organization If I want, I could always share information with members in my organization / factory It is mostly up to me whether or not I share information 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5

J. LEVEL OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY USAGE Please circle the appropriate number on each scale. Please indicate the extent to which you use these tools Not at all 1 1 1 1 1 Very often 5 5 5 5 5

E-mail Internet Bulletin Board Services Intranet Instant Messaging

2 2 2 2 2

3 3 3 3 3

4 4 4 4 4

K. EXTENT Please circle the appropriate number on each scale. Please indicate the extent that you do each of the listed behavior. Not at all Provide manuals, methodologies and models for members of the organization Share experience or know-how from work with other organizational members Provide know-where or know-whom at the request of other organizational members 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 Very often 5 5 5

RAW DATA SET

Id 1 2 3 4 5 res 1 1 1 1 1 x1 1 2 1 2 1 x2 26 48 35 19 33 X3 2 17 5 1 6 x4 2 24 9 1 8 x5 4 9 1 4 3 x6 2 5 3 1 3 x7 3 4 3 2 3 x8 3 2 3 5 5 x9 2 2 3 5 5 x10 2 2 3 5 5 x11 4 4 3 5 4 x12 4 4 2 4 4 x13 3 3 3 4 4 x14 3 3 3 5 3 x15 4 4 3 5 3 x16 4 4 4 4 4 x17 4 4 4 4 4