Antecedents of knowledge sharing behaviour in the public sector

Abstract

This qualitative study investigated antecedents of knowledge sharing in the public sector. Basing on the theory of planned behaviour and literature review, three antecedents guided the conceptualization of the study namely; employee attitudes, subjective or social norms and perceived behaviour control. Data from the 19 in-depth interviews were thematically analyzed. Findings revealed that employee attitudes towards knowledge sharing in the public sector were both positive and negative. While the theory of planned behaviour focuses on the attitudes of knowledge givers, it emerged that the knowledge seekers’ attitudes mattered as well. Subjective norms were prevalent in meetings, teams, job rotation as well as in the Communities of Practice (CoP). The finding that Communities of Practice were disconnected in terms of knowledge sharing emerged surprising because we had not envisaged it since previous studies have not investigated it. Perceived behaviour control was modified by scanty organizational resources as well as incentives and policies. The study proposes knowledge sharing model for both practitioners and researchers.