Relational models for knowledge sharing behavior

Summary In this paper we explore the relational dimension of knowledge sharing behavior by proposing a comprehensive theoretical framework for studying knowledge sharing in organizations. This theoretical framework originates from (Fiske, 1991) and (Fiske, 1992) Relational Models Theory (RMT). The RMT distinguishes four relational models: communal sharing, authority ranking, equality matching and market pricing. We conducted two case studies and investigated how people use different relational models for their knowledge sharing activities. Based on case studies of a governmental organization and an industrial research group, we describe how the relational context guides knowledge sharing behavior. We show that the willingness to share knowledge is rooted in different relational models and that people only share knowledge when they share similar relational models. Furthermore, effective knowledge sharing takes place when incentive systems and knowledge management systems are appropriated to the relational model in use.

[1]  Thomas H. Davenport,et al.  Book review:Working knowledge: How organizations manage what they know. Thomas H. Davenport and Laurence Prusak. Harvard Business School Press, 1998. $29.95US. ISBN 0‐87584‐655‐6 , 1998 .

[2]  Nick Haslam,et al.  Relational Models Theory : A Contemporary Overview , 2004 .

[3]  S. Massa,et al.  A knowledge management approach to organizational competitive advantage: Evidence from the food sector , 2009 .

[4]  H. Scarbrough,et al.  Social capital and political bias in knowledge sharing: An exploratory study , 2006 .

[5]  N. Foss,et al.  Governing Knowledge Sharing in Organizations: Levels of Analysis, Governance Mechanisms, and Research Directions , 2010 .

[6]  K. Eisenhardt.  Building theories from case study research , 1989, STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI.

[7]  R. Yin.  Case Study Research: Design and Methods , 1984 .

[8]  Peter H. Gray,et al.  Knowledge Sourcing Effectiveness , 2004, Manag. Sci..

[9]  S. Kiesler,et al.  The kindness of strangers: on the usefulness of electronic weak ties for technical advice , 1996 .

[10]  Eric S. Raymond,et al.  The cathedral and the bazaar - musings on Linux and Open Source by an accidental revolutionary , 2001 .

[11]  Barry Bozeman,et al.  Comparing Public and Private Organizations: Empirical Research and the Power of the A Priori , 2000 .

[12]  P. Tetlock,et al.  The psychology of the unthinkable: taboo trade-offs, forbidden base rates, and heretical counterfactuals. , 2000, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[13]  Nick Haslam.  Research on the Relational Models: An Overview , 2004 .

[14]  Tanya Menon,et al.  Tainted Knowledge vs. Tempting Knowledge: People Avoid Knowledge from Internal Rivals and Seek Knowledge from External Rivals , 2006, Manag. Sci..

[15]  P. Tetlock,et al.  The Limits of Fungibility: Relational Schemata and the Value of Things , 2003 .

[16]  P. Kollock.  SOCIAL DILEMMAS: The Anatomy of Cooperation , 1998 .

[17]  I. Nonaka,et al.  The Concept of “Ba”: Building a Foundation for Knowledge Creation , 1998 .

[18]  Haridimos Tsoukas,et al.  Organizations as knowledge systems : knowledge, learning and dynamic capabilities , 2004 .

[19]  Brian Uzzi,et al.  Relational Embeddedness and Learning: The Case of Bank Loan Managers and Their Clients , 2003, Manag. Sci..

[20]  Young-Gul Kim,et al.  Breaking the Myths of Rewards: An Exploratory Study of Attitudes about Knowledge Sharing , 2002, Inf. Resour. Manag. J..

[21]  Morten T. Hansen,et al.  KNOWLEDGE SHARING IN ORGANIZATIONS: MULTIPLE NETWORKS, MULTIPLE PHASES , 2005 .

[22]  Alan Page Fiske,et al.  The Four Basic Social Bonds: Structures for Coordinating Interaction. , 2005 .

[23]  M. McLure Wasko,et al.  "It is what one does": why people participate and help others in electronic communities of practice , 2000, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[24]  Gabriel Szulanski.  Exploring internal stickiness: Impediments to the transfer of best practice within the firm , 1996 .

[25]  B. Seely,et al.  Organizational Learning and Communities-of-Practice , 1991 .

[26]  P. Blau.  Exchange and Power in Social Life , 1964 .

[27]  Atreyi Kankanhalli,et al.  Contributing Knowledge to Electronic Knowledge Repositories: An Empirical Investigation , 2005, MIS Q..

[28]  X. Michael Song,et al.  An empirical investigation into the antecedents of knowledge dissemination at the strategic business unit level , 2003 .

[29]  L. Argote,et al.  KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER: A BASIS FOR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN FIRMS , 2000 .

[30]  A. Fiske.  The four elementary forms of sociality: framework for a unified theory of social relations. , 1992, Psychological review.

[31]  Morten T. Hansen,et al.  What's your strategy for managing knowledge? , 1999, Harvard business review.

[32]  George A. Boyne,et al.  Public and Private Management: What's the Difference? , 2002 .

[33]  Samer Faraj,et al.  Why Should I Share? Examining Social Capital and Knowledge Contribution in Electronic Networks of Practice , 2005, MIS Q..

[34]  R. H. Franke.  The Ultimate Advantage: Creating the High-Involvement OrganizationThe Ultimate Advantage: Creating the High-Involvement Organization By LawlerEdward E.III, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1992—371 pages. $29.95 , 1992 .

[35]  M. Crozier.  The Bureaucratic Phenomenon , 1964 .

[36]  J. V. Maanen,et al.  The Fact of Fiction in Organizational Ethnography. , 1979 .

[37]  Anja Schulze,et al.  How to Support Knowledge Creation in New Product Development:: An Investigation of Knowledge Management Methods , 2005 .

[38]  Justin J. P. Jansen,et al.  Inter- and Intra-Organizational Knowledge Transfer: A Meta-Analytic Review and Assessment of its Antecedents and Consequences , 2008 .

[39]  M. Resnick,et al.  Beyond the Call of Duty: A Qualitative Study of Teachers’ Additional Responsibilities Related to Sexuality Education , 2011 .

[40]  Daniel Z. Levin,et al.  The Strength of Weak Ties You Can Trust: The Mediating Role of Trust in Effective Knowledge Transfer , 2004, Manag. Sci..

[41]  J. Brown,et al.  Organizational Learning and Communities-of-Practice: Toward a Unified View of Working, Learning, and Innovation , 1991 .

[42]  Peter J. van Baalen,et al.  The Implications of Different Models of Social Relations for Understanding Knowledge Sharing , 2004 .

[43]  Morten T. Hansen,et al.  The Search-Transfer Problem: The Role of Weak Ties in Sharing Knowledge across Organization Subunits , 1999 .

[44]  Robert W. Zmud,et al.  Behavioral Intention Formation in Knowledge Sharing: Examining the Roles of Extrinsic Motivators, Social-Psychological Factors, and Organizational Climate , 2005, MIS Q..

[45]  Helga Malmin Binningsbø,et al.  Sharing the Wealth , 2012 .

[46]  W. Orlikowski.  Using Technology and Constituting Structures: A Practice Lens for Studying Technology in Organizations , 2000 .

[47]  B. Cocroft,et al.  Book reviewStructures of social life: the four elementary forms of human relations: Alan Page Fiske New York: Macmillan Inc., 1991, 480 pp., $29.95 (cloth) , 1994 .

[48]  K. Hewett,et al.  A Multi-Theoretical Model of Knowledge Transfer in Organizations: Determinants of Knowledge Contribution and Knowledge Reuse , 2006 .

[49]  Carole L. Jurkiewicz,et al.  Motivation in Public and Private Organizations: A Comparative Study , 1998 .

[50]  Edwin A. Locke,et al.  A Multilevel Investigation of the Motivational Mechanisms Underlying Knowledge Sharing and Performance , 2007, Organ. Sci..

[51]  Frederick Winslow Taylor,et al.  科学管理原理=The principles of scientific management , 2014 .

[52]  J. Bonache,et al.  The Impact of Team Atmosphere on Knowledge Outcomes in Self-managed Teams , 2005 .

[53]  P. Tetlock,et al.  Taboo Trade-Offs, Relational Framing, and the Acceptability of Exchanges , 2005 .

[54]  Ko de Ruyter,et al.  Beyond the Call of Duty: Why Customers Contribute to Firm-hosted Commercial Online Communities , 2007 .

[55]  Jeffrey Cummings,et al.  Transferring R&D Knowledge : the Key Factors Affecting Knowledge Transfer Success , 2003 .

[56]  Angel Cabrera,et al.  Knowledge-Sharing Dilemmas , 2002 .

[57]  B. Frey,et al.  Motivation, Knowledge Transfer, and Organizational Forms , 2000 .

[58]  Barton Poulson,et al.  Interpersonal Conflict and Relational Models Theory: A Structural Approach to Injustice , 2002 .

[59]  Gilbert Probst,et al.  Why communities of practice succeed and why they fail , 2008 .