Seminar Presentation C ase: Social network, social trust and shared goals in organizational knowledge sharing Wong Nga Sim Tao Shiu Him Tai Ting Hin Ma Sze Ki Tse Wai Chu Tam Chung Ming

Background Authors ： Dr. Chow WingShing, Mrs. Chan LaiSheung(2008) Title: Social network, social trust and shared goals in organizational knowledge sharing Publisher: Elsevier B.V.

Concept Knowledge management is hard to carry out. So researchers want to find out how social factors influence employees to do knowledge sharing.

Objective The objectives of the study were study how to quantify social capital develop a theoretical framework to confirm that social capital factors had a significant impact on knowledge sharing.

Objective What is the problem? "Sharing is hard to ensure, because knowledge is generated and initially stored within the employees."

Objective Why does the problem happen? "Early initiatives in knowledge management focused on providing electronic databases, network systems, and software to encourage the distribution of knowledge but these mechanisms have proved far from satisfactory."

Key Words Definition Knowledge Management It involves a set of behaviors that aid the exchange of acquired knowledge.

Key Words Definition Social Capital Social capital includes social network, social trust, and shared goals. It exists in the relationships between people and used to explain a variety of pro-social behaviors, like collective action and community involvement.

Key Word Definition Theory of reasoned action (TRA) the more favorable the attitude of an individual toward a behavior, the stronger will be the intention of the individual to engage in the behavior the greater the subjective norm, the stronger the intention of the individual to perform the behavior the stronger the intention of the individual to engage in a behavior, the more likely the individual will be to perform it.

Key Word Definition Confirmatory factor analysis Confirmatory factor analysis is a model,which integrated social capital factors with TRA and states hypotheses to develop a research model.

Confirmatory factor analysis model integrated social capital factors with the Theory of reasoned action (TRA) (1) attitude +ve intention (2) subjective norm +ve intention (3) intention +ve likelihood to perform it. Modeling

MODELING Social network provided increased opportunities for interpersonal contact People had more +ve feelings about sharing ideas and resources with those they had developed a close relationship H1. The more extensive the social network among organizational members, the more favorable will be the attitude toward knowledge sharing.

MODELING a more extensive social network with colleagues greater social pressure for sharing their knowledge high expectations of colleagues H2. The more extensive the social network among organizational members, the more favorable will be the subjective norm with respect to knowledge sharing.

MODELING Social trust in an organization improves interactions between colleagues people want to learn and share their knowledge. H3. The greater the social trust among organizational members, the more favorable will be the attitude toward knowledge sharing.

MODELING The level of social trust influences expectations of a colleague’s intention and behavior. More trust, more expectation to share their knowledge H4. The greater the social trust among organizational members, the more favorable will be the subjective norm with respect to knowledge sharing.

MODELING The presence of shared goals promotes mutual understanding & exchange of ideas. Shared goals holds people together and lets them share H5. The greater the shared goals among organizational members, the more favorable will be the attitude toward knowledge sharing.

MODELING Collective goals Other employee’s self-interest will not affect them adversely They will contribute their knowledge to help achieve their mutual goals H6. The greater the shared goals among organizational members, the more favorable will be the subjective norm with respect to knowledge sharing.

MODELING Attitudes can predict people’s intention to engage in that behavior a person’s attitude toward knowledge sharing determine behavioral intention to share knowledge H7. The more favorable the organizational members’ attitude toward knowledge sharing, the greater will be the intention to share knowledge.

MODELING people perceive greater social pressure to share knowledge a more positive attitude toward knowledge share H8. The greater the organizational members’ subjective norm with respect to knowledge sharing, the more favorable will be the attitude toward knowledge sharing.

MODELING Subjective norm has strong and positive effect on the intention to share knowledge H9. The higher the organizational members’ subjective norm with respect to knowledge sharing, the greater will be the intention to share knowledge.

RESEARCH METHOD Prior literature studies as references Postal Questionnaire

Questionnaire 1. Choose or modify valid questions from literature studies 2. P ostal Questionnaire Send the questionnaire to each participant together with an stamped envelop 3. Follow up phone call

Type of Questions Rating Likert scale *Rate the importance of each measurement items Value 1= strongly disagree ; Value 5 Strongly agree

Validity of constructs Convergent validity: degree to which two measures of constructs that theoretically should be related, are in fact related. Convergent validity Reliable construct

SAMPLING TECHNIQUE, AND STATISTICAL METHODS

Technique: Stratified random -Random sample from identifiable groups (strata), subgroups, etc. Advantages -Can ensure that specific groups are represented, even proportionally, in the sample(s) (e.g., by gender), by selecting individuals from strata list

The study sample consisted of Hong Kong managers randomly selected from the directory of D&B Key Decision Makers in Hong Kong 2004/05.

Statistical Method Using structural Equation modeling (SHE) to examine the hypotheses ‐ A confirmatory factor analysis ‐ Tests a model and its validity simultaneously ‐ Critical value of +/-1.96 ‐ If the values did not exceed, we concluded that the data passed a data normality test. How to calculate the critical value? ‐ The critical z-value was obtained by dividing the corresponding statistics by the standard errors H(6/ n)

FINDINGS

Findings

HypothesesResultInterpret H1&H5SupportedHigher level of : social network Shared goals contributed to the willingness of organizational members to share knowledge H7&H8&H9SupportedSocial pressure imposed by coworkers & managers leads to knowledge sharing H3 & H4Not supported

CONCLUSION

Conclusion Provided empirical evidence about influence of a social network social trust & shared goals on employees intention to share knowledge  Insights: The value of social capital & Rasons why people are/ aren’t willing to engage in knowledge sharing within an organization

Social network & shared goals DIRECTLY influenced the attitude & the subjective norm about knowledge sharing & INDIRECTLY the intention to share knowledge Social Trust DIDN’T DIRECT influence in sharing knowledge & organizational members don’t differentiate between tacit & explicit knowledge when they share it

Limitations: There are still other social capital factors may affect outcomes (eg society network ties, Organizational network stability) Research sample: Only consisted organizational managers Data collection: limited to knowledge-sharing behaviour within organizations in HK