Abstract
Knowledge sharing has been the focus of research for more than a decade and it is widely recognized that it can contribute to the success of an organisation. However, in comparison with other countries, relatively little work on this topic has been done in the Chinese context. Knowledge sharing is particularly interesting to study in the Chinese context at the individual level, given the unique social and cultural characteristics of this environment. In this paper, we develop a theoretical model to explain how personal factors would affect people’s intention to share their knowledge. The Theory of Reasoned Action and Social Exchange Theory are used in this paper, as are the time dimension of national culture, face, and guanxi. A survey methodology is used to test the model. Face and guanxi orientation both exert a significant effect on the intention to share knowledge. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as directions for future research, are discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ajzen, I., & Fishbein, M. 1980. Understanding attitudes and predicting social behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Ardichvili, A., Maurer, M., Li, W., Wentling, T., & Stuedemann, R. 2006. Cultural influences on knowledge sharing through online communities of practice. Journal of Knowledge Management, 10(1): 94–107.
Bartol, K. M., & Srivastava, A. 2002. Encouraging knowledge sharing: The role of organizational reward systems. Journal of Leadership and Organization Studies, 9(1): 64–76.
Blau, P. M. 1964. Exchange and power in social life. New York: Wiley.
Bock, G. W., & Kim, Y. G. 2002. Breaking the myths of rewards: An exploratory study of attitudes about knowledge sharing. Information Resources Management Journal, 15(2): 14–21.
Bock, G. W., Zmud, R. W., Kim, Y.-G., & Lee, J.-N. 2005. Behavioral intention formation in knowledge sharing: Examining the roles of extrinsic motivators, social–psychological forces, and organizational climate. MIS Quarterly, 29(1): 87–111.
Bruton, G. D., Dess, G. G., & Janney, J. J. 2007. Knowledge management in technology-focused firms in emerging economies: Caveats on capabilities, networks, and real options. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 24(2): 115–130.
Buckley, P. J., Clegg, J., & Tan, H. 2006. Cultural awareness in knowledge transfer to China: The role of Guanxi and Mianzi. Journal of World Business, 41(3): 275–288.
Cabrera, A., & Cabrera, E. F. 2002. Knowledge-sharing dilemmas. Organizational Studies, 23(5): 687–710.
Cheung, F. M., Leung, K., Zhang, J.-X., Sun, H.-F., Gan, Y.-Q., Song, W.-Z., et al. 2001. Indigenous Chinese personality constructs: Is the five-factor model complete? Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32(4): 407–433.
Chow, C. W., Deng, F. J., & Ho, J. L. 2000. The openness of knowledge sharing within organizations: A comparative study of the United States and the People’s Republic of China. Journal of Management Accounting Research, 12: 65–95.
Chu, R. L. 2006a. Pressure of face and its reversal behavior. In X. Zhai (ed.). Chinese Social Psychological Review: 161–185. Beijing: Social Science Academic.
Chu, R. L. 2006b. Social interactions among the Chinese: On the issue of face. In X. Zhai (ed.). Chinese Social Psychological Review: 79–106. Beijing: Social Science Academic (China).
Chua, A. 2003. Knowledge sharing: A game people play. Aslib Proceedings, 55(3): 117–129.
Clark, J. A., & Soliman, F. 1999. A graphical method for assessing knowledge-based systems investments. Logistics Information Management, 12(1/2): 63.
Cohen, J. 1988. Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Constant, D., Kiesler, S., & Sproull, L. 1994. What’s mine is ours, or is it? A study of attitudes about information sharing. Information Systems Research, 5(4): 400–421.
Davenport, T. H., & Prusak, L. 1998. Working knowledge: How organizations manage what they know. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Dieng, R. 2000. Knowledge management and the Internet. Intelligent Systems and Their Applications, 15(13): 14–17.
Eisenberger, R., & Cameron, J. 1996. Detrimental effects of reward: Reality or myth? American Psychologist, 51(55): 1153–1166.
Emerson, R. M. 1976. Social exchange theory. Annual Review of Sociology, 2: 335–362.
Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. 1975. Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior: An introduction to theory and research. Reading MA: Addison-Wesley.
Gefen, D. 2000. Structural equation modeling and regression: Guidelines for research practice. Communications of AIS, 4(7): 1–77.
Hackley, C. A., & Dong, Q. 2001. American public relations networking encounters China’s guanxi. Public Relations Quarterly, 46(2): 16–19.
Hair, J. F., Anderson, R. E., Tatham, R. L., & Black, W. C. 1998. Multivariate data analysis. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Ho, D. Y.-F. 1976. On the concept of face. The American Journal of Sociology, 81(4): 867–884.
Homans, G. C. 1961. Social Behavior: Its Elementary Forms. New York: Harcout Brace & World.
Hu, H. C. 1944. The Chinese concept of “face”. American Anthropology, 46: 45–64.
Husted, K., & Michailova, S. 2002. Diagnosing and fighting knowledge-sharing hostility. Organizational Dynamics, 31(1): 60–73.
Hwang, A., Francesco, A. M., & Kessler, E. 2003. The relationship between individualism-collectivism, face, and feedback and learning processes in Hong Kong, Singapore, and the United States. Journal of Cross-Culture Psychology, 34(1): 72–91.
Inkpen, A. C., & Tsang, E. W. K. 2005. Social capital, networks, and knowledge transfer. The Academy of Management Review, 30(1): 146–165.
Kankanhalli, A., Tan, B. C. Y., & Wei, K.-K. 2005. Contributing knowledge to electronic knowledge repositories: An empirical investigation. MIS Quarterly, 29(1): 113–143.
Kelman, H. C. 1958. Compliance, identification, and internalization: Three processes of attitude change. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 2: 51–60.
Kohn, A. 1993. Why incentive plans cannot work. Harvard Business Review: 54–63.
Kotlarsky, J., & Oshri, L. 2005. Social ties, knowledge sharing and successful collaboration in globally distributed system development projects. European Journal of Information Systems, 14: 37–48.
Lee, C., & Green, R. T. 1991. Cross cultural examination of the Fishbein behavioral intentions model. Journal of International Business Studies, 22(2): 289–305.
Leung, T. K. P., & Chan, R. Y.-K. 2003. Face, favor and positioning—A Chinese power game. European Journal of Marketing, 37(11/12): 1575–1598.
Li, S., & Scullion, H. 2006. Bridging the distance: Managing cross-border knowledge holders. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 23(1): 71–92.
Lin, H. F. 2007. Effects of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation on employee knowledge sharing intentions. Journal of Information Science, 33(2): 135–149.
Mahnke, V. 1998. The economics of knowledge sharing: Production and organization cost considerations. California Management Review, 11: 22–49.
Mathieson, K., & Peacock, E. 2001. Extending the technology acceptance model: The influence of perceived user resources. The DATA BASE for Advances in Information Systems, 32(3): 86–112.
McKellar, H. 2006. 100 companies that matter in knowledge management. KM World: http://www.kmworld.com/Articles/Readarticle.aspx?articleID=15156&PageNum=15151.
Michailova, S., & Hutchings, K. 2006. National cultural influences on knowledge sharing: A comparison of China and Russia. Journal of Management Studies, 43(3): 383–405.
Molm, L. D. 1997. Coercive power in social exchange. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Redding, S. G., & Ng, M. 1982. The role of ‘face’ in the organizational perceptions of Chinese managers. Organizational Studies, 3(3): 201–219.
Reid, F. 2003. Creating a knowledge-sharing culture among diverse business units. Employment Relations Today, 30(3): 43–49.
Ryu, S., Ho, S. H., & Han, I. 2003. Knowledge sharing behavior of physicians in hospitals. Expert System with Applications, 25(1): 113–122.
Thompson, K. E. 1999. Predicting behavioural intention in a small business context. Journal of Marketing Practice: Applied Marketing Science, 5(3): 89–96.
Ting-Toomey, S. 1988. Intercultural conflict styles: A face-negotiation theory. In Y. Y. Kim & W. B. Gudykunst (eds.). Theories in Intercultural Communication: 213–235. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Tsang, E. W. K. 2002. Acquiring knowledge by foreign partners for international joint ventures in a transition economy: Learning by doing and learning myopia. Strategic Management Journal, 23(9): 835–854.
Voelpel, S. C., & Han, Z. 2005. Managing knowledge sharing in China: The case of Siemens sharenet. Journal of Knowledge Management, 9(3): 51–63.
Weir, D., & Hutchings, K. 2005. Culture embeddedness and contextual constraints: Knowledge sharing in Chinese and Arab cultures. Knowledge and Process Management, 12(2): 89–98.
Yang, K. 2005. Chinese social orientation: A social interactional approach. In Y. Yang (ed.). Chinese Social Psychological Review. Beijing: Social Science Academic (China).
Zhou, M., & Ho, D. Y. F. 2005. An Analysis of meaning and work of face in social interaction from the cross-cultural perspective. In X. Zhai (ed.). Chinese Social Psychological Review: 186–216. Beijing: Social Sciences Academic.
Zuo, B. 2002. The Chinese relation orientation: Concept and its measurement. Journal of Central China Normal University (Humanities and Social Sciences), 41(1): 74–80.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendix
Appendix
Loss of knowledge power: (Kankanhalli et al., 2005)
-
1.
Sharing my knowledge makes me lose my unique value in the organization.
-
2.
Sharing my knowledge makes me lose my power base in the organization.
-
3.
Sharing my knowledge makes me lose my knowledge that makes me stand out with respect to others.
-
4.
Sharing my knowledge makes me lose my knowledge that no one else has.
Codification effort: (Kankanhalli et al., 2005)
-
1.
I do not have the time to codify my knowledge.
-
2.
It is laborious to codify my knowledge.
-
3.
The effort is high for me to codify my knowledge.
-
4.
I am worried that if I share my knowledge, I will have to spend additional time answering follow up questions.
Image: (Kankanhalli et al., 2005)
-
1.
Sharing my knowledge improves my image within the organization.
-
2.
People in the organization who share their knowledge have more prestige than those who do not.
-
3.
Sharing my knowledge improves others recognition of me.
-
4.
When I share my knowledge, the people I work with respect me.
-
5.
When I share my knowledge, my superiors praise me.
Anticipated reciprocal relationships: (Bock et al., 2005)
-
1.
My knowledge sharing would strengthen the ties between existing members in the organization and myself.
-
2.
My knowledge sharing would get me well acquainted with new members in the organization.
-
3.
My knowledge sharing would expand the scope of my association with other members in the organization.
-
4.
My knowledge sharing would draw smooth cooperation from outstanding members in the future.
-
5.
My knowledge sharing would create strong relationships with members who have common interests in the organization.
Anticipated extrinsic rewards: (Bock et al., 2005)
-
1.
I will receive monetary rewards in return for my knowledge sharing.
-
2.
I will receive additional points for promotion in return for my knowledge sharing.
Sense of self-worth: (Bock et al., 2005)
-
1.
My knowledge sharing would help other members in the organization solve problems.
-
2.
My knowledge sharing would create new business opportunities for the organization.
-
3.
My knowledge sharing would improve work processes in the organization.
-
4.
My knowledge sharing would increase productivity in the organization.
-
5.
My knowledge sharing would help the organization achieve its performance objectives.
Attitude toward Knowledge Sharing: (Bock et al., 2005)
-
1.
My knowledge sharing with other organizational members is good.
-
2.
My knowledge sharing with other organizational members is harmful.
-
3.
My knowledge sharing with other organizational members is an enjoyable experience.
-
4.
My knowledge sharing with other organizational members is valuable to me.
-
5.
My knowledge sharing with other organizational members is a wise move.
Subjective Norm: (Bock et al., 2005)
Normative beliefs on knowledge sharing
-
1.
My CEO thinks that 1 should share my knowledge with other members in the organization.
-
2.
My boss thinks that 1 should share my knowledge with other members in the organization.
-
3.
My colleagues think 1 should share my knowledge with other members in the organization.
Motivation to comply (MTC)
-
1.
Generally speaking, I try to follow the CEO’s policy and intention.
-
2.
Generally speaking, I accept and carry out my boss’s decision even though it is different from mine.
-
3.
Generally speaking, I respect and put in practice my colleague’s decision.
Intention to share knowledge: (Ryu et al., 2003)
-
1.
I will make an effort to share knowledge with my colleagues.
-
2.
I intend to share knowledge with my colleagues when they ask.
-
3.
I will share knowledge with my colleagues.
Face saving: (Cheung et al., 2001)
-
1.
I pay a lot of attention to how others see me.
-
2.
I am usually very particular about the way I dress because I do not want others to look down on me.
-
3.
I feel a loss of face when others turn down my favor.
Face gaining:
-
1.
Sharing knowledge with my colleagues will make me gain face.
-
2.
I would like to share my knowledge in public, because it will make me gain face.
GuanxiOrientation: (Zuo, 2002)
-
1.
We expect that our friends will help us in our social life.
-
2.
Chinese society is composed of a kind of personal guanxi net.
-
3.
I enjoy life that includes human concern and kindness.
-
4.
Personal guanxi is an important resource in career development.
-
5.
People should get on with each other harmoniously.
-
6.
I will try to build a good relationship with my colleagues and supervisors.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Huang, Q., Davison, R.M. & Gu, J. Impact of personal and cultural factors on knowledge sharing in China. Asia Pac J Manage 25, 451–471 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-008-9095-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-008-9095-2