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Knowledge sharing success and resistance in an engineering department: A case study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 July 2015

Claire M Gardiner
Claire M Gardiner*
Affiliation:
School of Management, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
*
Corresponding author: c.gardiner@qut.edu.au
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Abstract

The centrality of knowledge sharing to organizations’ sustainability has been established. This research explores and illustrates the influences for individual professionals and paraprofessionals – specifically civil engineers and design drafters – to share their deep, personally constructed knowledge, in a public sector provider of railways infrastructure. It investigates the extent to which: (i) knowledge sharing will be positively influenced by the professional identity, values and knowledge culture to achieve organizational and project goals; and (ii) sharing of deep personal expertise will be influenced by the quality of relational capital among individuals and individual perspectives. It finds that knowledge sharing develops within frameworks established through the alignment among sector, profession and organization values. However, individual behavior is found to be most strongly influenced by the presence and quality of relational capital and individuals’ personal perspectives.

Keywords

knowledge sharing influencesknowledge management
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , March 2016 , pp. 254 - 271
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2015 

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