Managerial action and behaviors that are supportive for knowledge sharing by employees

Abstract

With a changing global environment, there is an increased need for organizations to be able to efficiently and effectively share and use knowledge resources that exists within the firm, to achieve and sustain a competitive advantage. Digitalization is no longer a matter of choice, but rather a necessity for success. How to manage and facilitate knowledge sharing in organizations is becoming increasingly important to achieve organizational goals. In our study we look at knowledge sharing, and what actions and behaviors managers can engage in to facilitate for knowledge sharing, such as encouraging willingness to share (e.g. voluntarism, openness to experience and innovation), leadership commitment (e.g. leaders’ actions as symbols and rewarding of desired behavior) and trust (e.g. leader facilitating both explicit and tacit knowledge, creating trusting environment and acting as a role model). This research was conducted using a qualitative approach. Our sample consists of 12 in depth semi- structured interviews, with 12 respondents from the technology department of Telia Norway, more specifically employees from the two divisions; Telia Next and Product and IT. Despite a seemingly different nature in the two departments, we found support for the majority of our propositions in both departments, though some of the findings were inconclusive or not supported in Product and IT. From our study, we have found that the manager’s ability to create willingness to share, trust and being committed to knowledge sharing indeed increases the employees perceived support for knowledge sharing. We see that certain actions and behaviors are important for the manager to engage in, such as what type of leadership role they engage in, creating willingness to share, fostering good interpersonal relationships, establishing trust, being a role model, being innovative, openness to new ways of working and being committed to demonstrating and implementing knowledge sharing efforts.