Knowledge sharing in online environments: A qualitative case study

Abstract

This study expands the perspective of knowledge sharing by categorizing the different types of knowledge that individuals shared with one another and examining the patterns of motivators and barriers of knowledge sharing across three online environments pertaining to the following professional practices-advanced nursing practice, Web development, and literacy education. The patterns indicate the different possible combinations of motivators or barriers that may exist in individuals. Data were gathered through online observations and semistructured interviews with 54 participants. The crosscase analysis shows that the most common type of knowledge shared across all three environments was practical knowledge. Overall, seven motivators were found. Analysis also suggests that the most common combination of motivators for knowledge sharing was collectivism and reciprocity. A total of eight barriers were identified. The most common combination of barriers varied in each online environment. Discussions as to how the types of professional practices may contribute to the different results are provided, along with implications and future possible research directions.

Employees’ participation in electronic networks of practice within a corporate group: perceived benefits and costs

“…One possible reason is that knowledge exchange through a visible computer-mediate system is promoted by generalized reciprocity (Wasko and Faraj 2005). This finding is consistent with Hew and Hara's (2007) research, in which they found reciprocity to be a reason for members' contributions in online environments.…”

Exploring qualitative analytics for e-mentoring relationships building in an online social learning environment

“…We have found a great deal of common ground with research on social learning and Web 2.0. For example, the importance of performance criteria and being able to select people based in similarity within mentoring [2], is mirrored by the need to see and know about others online [13] before developing connections and trust [3]. In this model of mentoring (closer to peer mentoring or peer support in workbased learning) the relationships are likely to be more diffuse and feature connections that vary in frequency and intensity.…”

Knowledge Sharing in Virtual Distributed Environments: Main Motivators, Discrepancies of Findings and Suggestions for Future Research

“…Thirty out of Bartol and Srivastava [24] participants indicated that they are intended to share knowledge because of a sense of responsibility. The finding discrepancy may come from the different methodology designs as the first two studies are designed empirical experiment while the data from Hew and Hara [17] is conducted from observation and interviews. Future research studies should draw attention to investigate the motivational effects of reciprocity, especially the generalized reciprocity, on knowledge sharing behavior.…”

“…For instance, researchers have been investigating what factors motivate successful knowledge sharing [1], [9], [11], [13]- [21] and what factors hinder knowledge sharing among individuals [1], [11], [12], [17]. Although these studies provide useful insights into the factors that significantly affect the behavior of knowledge sharing, there are some discrepancies of findings among the different studies.…”