How do organizations share knowledge and information? - Part 1

This is the first real post of the series exploring how groups and organizations share knowledge and information.  My goal is to base most of this journey on the scholarly literature available.  I've discovered that there is quite diverse set to choose from on the topic. 

The first piece I'll start with is Constant et al.'s "What's Mine Is Ours, or Is It? A Study of Attitudes of Information Sharing" (1994).  This piece seems to be one of the most widely cited on the subject, so it will be a good one to begin with.  You can download the paper from Sara Kiesler's website.

First, I should clarify what I mean by knowledge and information sharing and also be specific on what the article addresses.  What I mean by information sharing within organizations is how individuals share outside information with others inside of the group.  This can take the form of finding an interesting news article pertinent to the company or workgroup, or finding a blog post that one's colleagues might enjoy, and sharing this with the rest of the group.  This can be done through emailing, forums, and other mechanisms. 

This is slightly different from the type of information sharing David Constant and his colleagues discuss.  Constant divides information into two main forms (although he does not rule out the existence of others): product and expertise.

Expertise is knowledge and abilities where as product is something more tangible like a computer program or a work process.  It's important that these be differentiated because of people's differing propensity to share based on the type of information--product or expertise.  Constant explores the difference in sharing between product-based information and expertise.

Further, most of the article refers to information that is already within the organization.  So, if I am the resident expert on coffee brewing within XYZ Corp., then I may decide to share my expertise with others in the organization (inside-in).  Contrast this to me finding an interesting article on Internet advertising trends from a blog and sharing it with my colleagues (outside-in).

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While managers can talk endlessly about the benefits of increased information sharing--increased efficiency, innovation, learning, understanding of the organization's directives--how do we know people will want to share? Or will this people want to share information as much as technology allow?

Findings & Discussion

Organizational Ownership - a major variable that Constant tested for in a series of experiments is the individual's perception of how much the organization owned what was being shared.  For instance, if an individual was working on a computer program and another person asked to use it, how much of the product was perceived to be owned by the organization.  Constant sought to measure the sharer's perception of company ownership of the computer program.  Constant also wanted to measure this for expertise sharing--how much of this did the organization own?

His findings: products are more likely to be shared within an organization because they are perceived to have a higher level of organizational ownership compared to expertise.  Expertise is more likely to be guarded--it is perceived as owned more by the individual.

Role of Happiness - Happy individuals are more likely to share within an organization.  Unhappy individuals are more unwilling to share and share a smaller percentage.

Interdependence theory (Kelley & Thibaut, 1978) - "You scratch my back, I scratch yours".  That is, reciprocity drives sharing behavior within an organization.  Although, an organization can mitigate negative reciprocity (I refuse to share with you, thus you refuse to share with me) and can influence individual's sharing habits.  Strong organizations that promote reciprocity, positive behavior, can increase sharing.

Prosocial Transformations - People want positive outcomes when sharing.  If sharing brings about positive outcomes, people share more.  That is, positive outcome can reduce peoples' hesitation to share. 

There is also the notion of "social good".  Organizations that promote sharing as a social good can increase sharing among its members.  Thus, an organization's culture and attitude towards information sharing can influence sharing.

Conclusion

While most of this is common sense, organizations that are aware of these effects can use them to promote an environment of increased information sharing.  Promoting a culture that rewards sharing with positive outcomes--praise and thankfulness--can reduce members' hesitations and increase information flow.  Of course, the benefits of increased sharing are certainly desirable by any organization--increased productivity, efficiency, learning and understand, and perhaps stronger personal ties within the firm.

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The rest of the series:

• How do organizations share knowledge and information? - Intro
• How do organizations share knowledge and information? - Part 1