Sharing Knowledge in the Organisation: a Retrospective Analysis and an Empirical Study

Abstract

Knowledge has long ago been recognised as an important asset for sustaining competitive advantage. Recently, the use of information technologies for knowledge‑sharing within an organisation is identified as an important tool for managing organisational knowledge in order to improve business performance. This paper starts with a retrospective analysis of the basic theories that during the course of the 20 century, gave birth to the Knowledge‑based Theory of the Firm. Then it focuses on Knowledge Sharing within the organisation, and the Knowledge Sharing Networks that facilitate this complicated task. Through an empirical study, it evaluates the role and the level of contribution of Information Technology functions and infrastructure among knowledge‑sharing groups, for their relationship and the organisation's performance. Finally, building upon both the theoretical analysis and the empirical results, the paper concludes with guidelines that help management to overcome existing barriers and at the same time, make Knowledge Sharing Networks the backbone of their knowledge‑sharing infrastructure.