Collaborative Practices

Collaborative practices are the employee’s beliefs relating to knowledge sharing norms in his or her organisation and relate to knowledge sharing behaviours by others at that organisation. Thus, collaborative practices for an employee may be high even if the employee is not involved in knowledge sharing. Items that measure collaborative practices are shown in Table 11.

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Table 11: Operationalisation of Collaborative Practices

EC03 Employees are provided with opportunities to suggest improvements in the way things are done here.

EC07 In my organisation employees always share their experiences with colleagues from other departments.

EC08 My organisation supports cross-functional team work for learning through collaboration.

EC09 Our employees are skilled at collaborating with each other to diagnose and solve problems

EC10 Our employees share information and learn from one another.

EC11 Our employees interact and exchange ideas with people from different areas of the company.

KS01 People in my organisation frequently share knowledge based on their experience. KS04 People in my organisation frequently collect knowledge from other organisational

members.

KS05 People in my organisation frequently collect knowledge of know-where or know- whom from other organisational members.

KS06 People in my organisation frequently share knowledge of know-where or know- whom with other organisational members.

KS11 Sharing knowledge with colleagues is regarded as something normal in my company.

5.7.2

Trust is the employee’s trust in his or her colleagues, in the organisation’s management, and in the organisation overall. Trust describes the extent to which the employee is prepared to put himself or herself in a vulnerable position with respect to his or her colleagues, the management, or the organisation overall. Sveiby (1997) suggests that trust is a bandwidth of

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communication. Trust is a multidimensional construct and this thesis discusses trust as interpersonal trust, trust in management and organisation as shown in Table 12.

Table 12: Operationalisation of Trust

TR01 If I get into difficulties at work I know that my colleagues would try and help me out.

TR02 I can trust the people I work with to lend me a hand if needed.

TR03 Most of my colleagues can be relied upon to do as they say they will do.

TR04 Management at my firm is sincere in its attempts to see the employees’ points of view.

TR05 I feel quite confident that the firm will always try to treat me fairly.

TR06 I can trust the people in other departments to lend me a hand if needed. TR07 At work, I know my colleagues would help me if needed.

TR08 Most of my peers can be relied upon to do as they say they will do. TR09 I always trust my colleagues’ opinions due to their competence.

5.7.3

Monetary Rewards refers to the employee’s belief that he or she is going to be financially compensated for knowledge sharing. Items are shown in Table 13.

Table 13: Operationalisation of Monetary Rewards

RR01 I feel that the monetary rewards given by the organisation to employees for sharing knowledge are fair.

RR02 I am satisfied with the monetary rewards that I receive in exchange for the knowledge I give the organisation.

RR03 My feelings about the monetary rewards I receive for sharing knowledge are excellent.

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5.7.4 Knowledge Sharing

Knowledge sharing refers to knowledge sharing behaviours by the employee. The more the employee participates in various aspects of knowledge sharing (as a source of knowledge or as a receiver of knowledge), the higher is knowledge sharing. Items that measure Knowledge sharing concept are shown in Table14.

Table 14: Operationalisation of Knowledge Sharing

KS02 I frequently gain knowledge from other organisational members based on their experience.

KS03 I frequently share knowledge based on my experience with other organisational members.

KS07 I often share with my colleagues the new information I acquire. KS08 I often share with my colleagues the new working skills that I learn. KS09 My colleagues often share with me the new working skills that they learn. KS10 My colleagues often share with me the new information they acquire.

KS12 I share the information I have with colleagues within my department when they ask me.

KS13 Colleagues within my department tell me what their skills are when I ask them. KS14 I share the information I have with colleagues outside of my department when

they ask me.

KS15 Colleagues outside of my department tell me what their skills are when I ask them.

5.7.5 Individual Capability

Individual Capability refers to the employee’s on-going contribution to his or her organisation’s sustained competitive advantage.

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Table 15: Operationalisation of Knowledge Sharing

IC01 I often develop new products and services that are well received by the market.

IC02 I can often develop new products or services faster than others.

IC03 I often develop novel skills for transforming old products into new ones for the market.

The items are labelled according to their initial designation (for instance, EC for employees’ collaboration, RR for rewards and recognition, KS for knowledge sharing, TR for trust, and IC for individual capability).

5.8 Hypotheses Description

A brief description of the hypotheses of the final model is as follows:

H1: Collaborative Practices Affect Knowledge Sharing.

If an employee believes that knowledge sharing is something that is commonly done at his or her organisation, and thus is something expected by his or her colleagues and by the management, he or she is more likely to engage in knowledge sharing. Hence, people management practices, such as collaborative practices positively improve the knowledge flow through employee knowledge sharing in organisations (Cabrera & Cabrera, 2005).

H2: Trust Affects Knowledge Sharing.

Sharing knowledge may make the employee vulnerable. Knowledge shared by the employee may be used against him or her by others (e.g., it may be easier to fire an employee who does not possess unique knowledge). At the same time, using knowledge shared by others may result in negative consequences because the knowledge may be invalid or because it was shared with the aim of manipulating the employee, rather than to help him or her. Thus,

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if the employee believes that making himself or herself vulnerable in his or her organisation will not result in negative consequences, he or she is more likely to be involved in knowledge sharing. According to Goh, and Sandhu, (2013),

“Trust results from confidence and willingness to engage in a strong relationship with another person. If one has confidence and willingness to strengthen the relationship with another person, then he or she is more ready to comply in sharing knowledge with those he or she trusts (p 40).

Hence, trust influences employee knowledge sharing behaviour (Riege, 2005)

H3: Monetary Rewards Affect Knowledge Sharing.

If the employee believes that participating in knowledge sharing is likely to result in monetary rewards by organisation, he or she is more likely to engage in knowledge sharing (Lin, 2007). This is supported by the transactional leadership theory. Transactional leadership theory focuses on exchange of resources by providing something to the employee they want in exchange for something the leader wants (Kuhnert & Lewis, 1987).

H4: Knowledge Sharing Contributes to Individual Capability.

By participating in knowledge sharing activities the employee engages in interactions within communities of practice, resulting in better understanding of how the knowledge that he or she has applies in different contexts and giving him or her access to the knowledge by others. The new knowledge thus socially constructed can take the form of new products and new processes. This is supported by tacit versus explicit knowledge theory (with new products and new processes seen as tacit knowledge captured as explicit knowledge) and by the social constructivism theory.

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