Middle Managers’ Maturity of Knowledge Sharing: Investigation of Middle Managers Working at Medium‑ and Large‑sized Enterprises

Abstract

Nowadays knowledge is becoming an increasingly important factor of organizational competitiveness. The way it is shared within the organization is essential and central not only to the success of organizations but also among those who share it, since those who take part in the knowledge sharing process also benefit from it. Since middle managers have an important position within the organization and play a significant role in the knowledge sharing process, this paper focuses on the knowledge sharing of those middle managers who work at medium and large‑sized enterprises in Hungary. A new method of how to measure middle managers’ maturity of knowledge sharing is presented in this paper. Between 2007 and 2010 an empirical survey was conducted during which 400 middle managers working at medium‑ and large‑sized enterprises in Hungary were investigated by a questionnaire. The answers of this survey have been analysed using Principal Component Analysis and four different principal components concerning the maturity of knowledge sharing have been identified. These four components are the availability among middle managers, the availability among the middle managers and their subordinates, the usefulness of knowledge among middle managers and the usefulness of knowledge among the middle managers and their subordinates.