“Drawing on the work of Hau et al (2012) discuss how employee knowledge sharing intentions are affected by individual motivation and social capita...

As a result of the importance of knowledge in today’s trading word, an understanding of how to boost the knowledge sharing between employees has become vital to succeed. This article explores the key factors of employee knowledge sharing intentions. The study identifies sharing intentions as either tacit or explicit and investigates how the level of information influences the choice of which type to use.

The two types of information sharing discussed are explicit and tacit knowledge. “Tacit is not easily codified or articulated because it is embedded in an individual’s brain or experience, such as know-how or skill” (Hau et al, 2012, 256). “Tacit knowledge is difficult to share because it is subjected and personal in nature and therefore difficult to extract from the heads of individuals.” (Sanchez paper, 3). Nonaka (1994 ,19) claims that “tacit knowledge is deeply rooted in action, commitment and involvement in a specific context”. On the other hand explicit knowledge is “easily expressed and can be communicated in for form of written documents” (Hau et al, 2012, 256). It can be identified that tacit knowledge is harder to share while explicit knowledge is based on objective rather than subjective and therefore is not open to interpretations, thus preventing any misunderstanding when shared.

The study discusses the idea that “motivation is one of the most important factors influencing employee’s intentions to share their knowledge”. (Hau et al, 2012, 255). Mangers want to ensure that employees are highly motivated for a number of reasons, the main aims being that it increased information sharing allowing for better communication channels and promoting employees to share more.

Extrinsically motivated employees are driven by t...

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...of Knowledge Creation. Organization Science, 5(1),

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