LINKAGES BETWEEN PERSONALITY and KNOWLEDGE SHARING BEHAVIOR in WORKPLACE: MEDIATING ROLE of AFFECTIVE STATES Ch
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Ekonomika a management LINKAGES BETWEEN PERSONALITY AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING BEHAVIOR IN WORKPLACE: MEDIATING ROLE OF AFFECTIVE STATES Ch. Mahmood Anwar Introduction and focused on the cogent and cognitive Knowledge is considered as a critical strategic aspects (Judge & Ilies, 2004). However, resource for organizations in the contemporary since the 1980s, organizational researchers knowledge-intensive economy. According to emphasized that the emotional component the resource based view of fi rms, one among must be explored in order to fully comprehend other sources of fi rm’s competitive advantage and explain organizational vivacity (Ashforth is knowledge. Research shows that knowledge & Humphrey, 1995). Keeping this in mind, sharing is a key enabler of knowledge inclusion of affect in our research schema management (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995; is likely to contribute to the understanding Alavi & Leidner, 2001). Many organizations of personality and knowledge sharing assert knowledge sharing vital to exploit behavior. The literature shows that Weiss and core competencies and to achieve sustained Cropanzano’s (1996) Affective Events Theory competitive advantage. Prahalad and Hamel (AET) provides a valuable context to study the (1990) observe that core competencies of antecedents and consequences of emotions organization reside in the collective learning i.e. affective states in workplace. of the organizational processes like marketing, It is obvious that the relationship between production, or inimitable technological capabilities. personality, emotions and knowledge sharing To investigate the factors infl uencing behavior is a topic of interest, as till the present individuals to share knowledge, the role of year the enigma has not been solved yet (Jadin big fi ve personality dimensions, often known as et al., 2013; Wang & Noe, 2010). The present extraversion, neuroticism, openness to experience, paper is an extension in the fi eld of knowledge agreeableness and conscientiousness, is critical of personality, knowledge sharing and affective because “personality is an important determinant psychological dimensions in workplace. The of individual behavior in the workplace” (Penney purpose of this study is to contribute to theory et al., 2011, p. 297). Despite studies suggesting and empirically test the relationship between that individuals are predisposed to certain work personality and knowledge sharing behavior attitudes and behaviors (e.g., Judge and Bono and any sacrifi ce offered by affective states (2001)), few studies have empirically tested the between this relationship in workplace. impact of individual personality on knowledge sharing. Wang and Noe (2010) identifi ed 1. Literature Review in their review study exploring knowledge 1.1 Knowledge Sharing Behavior sharing behavior that only a few studies have The nebulous nature of organizational objectively examined the infl uence of individual knowledge makes it diffi cult to delineate it personality on knowledge sharing. Similarly, precisely (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995). De Vries, Jadin et al. (2013) affi rm the importance of Den Hooff and De Ridder (2006) describe personality traits for knowledge sharing and knowledge sharing as a communication highlight several caveats of their research. process between two or more persons. It should be noted that extensively studied Whereas, Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) view job attitudes such as job satisfaction (Judge fi rm’s knowledge as association between the & Church, 2000), mainstream research has organization and its environment followed by disregarded the affective facet of the concept confi rmed understanding and belief system. 102 2017, XX, 2 DOI: 10.15240/tul/001/2017-2-008 EEM_2_2017.inddM_2_2017.indd 110202 114.6.20174.6.2017 99:29:33:29:33 Business Administration and Management Organizations are setting knowledge always willing to share their knowledge with sharing environment by promoting knowledge others. These people believe in the increase of sharing behavior among their employees in knowledge assets and intelligence which results order to achieve their goals and objectives. from knowledge sharing to satisfy their thirst for Many organizations found knowledge sharing knowledge. Based on these arguments, the strategies fruitful and benefi cial (O’Dell & following hypothesis is proposed: Grayson, 1998). O’Dell and Grayson reported Hypothesis 1: Openness to experience will that companies such as Texas Instruments, positively predict knowledge sharing behavior Buckman Laboratories, Dow Chemical, and in workplace. Chevron have been profi ted by implementing knowledge sharing process. Conscientiousness and Knowledge Sharing Cheng (2002) confi rmed that, knowledge Conscientiousness is realized as a noteworthy sharing can help workers to better understand predictor of knowledge sharing (Matzler et al., their jobs, learn new dimensions to perform 2008). Teh et al. (2011) studied link between the job in effective and effi cient ways, which personality and knowledge sharing in the can bring personal recognition within the university environment and found conscientious division. Companies can achieve sustainable students’ engagement in more knowledge competitive advantage by processing existing sharing activities like sharing about their knowledge and building new knowledge. hobbies, favorite movies and music reviews. People high in conscientiousness feel self- 1.2 Personality and Knowledge Sharing esteem in knowledge sharing (Hendriks, 1999). Behavior During the interaction, they refl ect themselves Awad and Ghaziri (2004) suggest that individual as knowledge testimony. It has been observed factor like personality infl uences knowledge that conscientiousness also affects learning sharing behavior. For instance, according to behavior, which in turn infl uences knowledge personality theory, extroverts are confi dent and sharing (Matzler & Müller, 2011). This shows feel secure which tend to share more knowledge that erudition lustrous individuals, who think with others as compared to introverts who are they can exhibit abilities, will be more inclined more self-centered and feel insecure. to share knowledge to execute that goal. Based Many studies suggest that people are on these theoretical arguments, the following predisposed to work attitudes and behaviors hypothesis is proposed: like the investigation taken by Judge and Hypothesis 2: Conscientiousness will Bono (2001), but unfortunately, few studies positively predict knowledge sharing behavior investigated the relationship between in workplace. personality and knowledge sharing behavior in workplace. Numerous factors have been Extraversion and Knowledge Sharing identifi ed which can affect the degree of Literature shows that extrovert people have knowledge sharing within groups and teams. positive emotions and feel satisfaction when On the individual level, personality traits can working in groups and teams (McCrae & affect the knowledge sharing behavior in Costa, 1987). So, these people might augment workplace (Matzler et al., 2008). knowledge sharing among group members to increase the work effi ciency. For instance, Openness to Experience and Knowledge Gupta (2008) tested knowledge sharing Sharing behavior at university level and reported that Research on fi ve factor theory discloses that fulfi llment of group tasks of students rely on among big fi ve facets, openness to experience online resources available in library, extrovert is the most signifi cant predictor of knowledge students always try to share information with sharing behavior (Matzler & Müller, 2011). group members to furnish group assignments. Costa and McCrae (1988) report that open Knowledge sharing is actually based on people always try to update their knowledge knowledge exchange and correspondence. and learn from their new experiences. The People high in extraversion tend to prove same was reported by LePine and Van Dyne themselves as knowledge distributers. It is (2001). Wah (1999) describes that people high hypothesized that extraversion is also highly in openness to experience are intelligent and correlated to willingness to share knowledge. 2, XX, 2017 103 EEM_2_2017.inddM_2_2017.indd 110303 114.6.20174.6.2017 99:29:33:29:33 Ekonomika a management Ferguson et al. (2010) report a positive fear and mistrust, this impacts the knowledge relationship between extroverts and knowledge sharing behavior negatively. The trepidation sharing behavior; they share knowledge in their and angst based on the fear of negative circles whether they would be rewarded or not assessment by others, neurotic people dither (Wang et al., 2011). Based on these arguments to share their knowledge and ideas with the following hypothesis is proposed: colleagues (Bordia et al., 2006). Research Hypothesis 3: Extraversion will positively shows that trust and integrity is related to predict knowledge sharing behavior in workplace. knowledge sharing behavior (Abrams et al., 2003), whereas neurotic people lack at trust in Agreeableness and Knowledge Sharing people, which leads to a negative relationship According to personality theory, agreeable between neuroticism and knowledge sharing people are naturally apt to help others, so behavior. In difference, Wang and Yang (2007) inclined towards cooperation and collaboration did not fi nd a statistically signifi cant association with co-workers rather than competitiveness between knowledge sharing intention and (Witt et al., 2002). Matzler et al. (2008) pen neuroticism. Based on these arguments and that parallel elements