A psychological empowerment approach to online knowledge sharing

Youn Jung Kang, Jin Young Lee, Hee Woog Kim

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

54 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The success of a knowledge management system (KMS) depends on knowledge sharing. Previous research has claimed that motivational factors can facilitate successful knowledge sharing as a proactive behavior. However, little research has examined what motivators lead to proactive knowledge sharing. By integrating a psychological empowerment perspective with job characteristics theory, this study examines the role of KMS user empowerment, as a specific type of psychological empowerment, in motivating this proactivity to explain employee knowledge-sharing behavior (i.e., contribution and seeking). The findings explain that KMS user empowerment is significantly associated with knowledge sharing, and the work environment (job significance, job autonomy, ease of KMS use, and KMS usefulness) enhances KMS user empowerment. This study contributes to KM research by introducing the concept of KMS user empowerment and demonstrating its role in regulating the proactive knowledge sharing. It also helps managers to promote knowledge sharing among employees in the context of KMS use.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)175-187
Number of pages13
JournalComputers in Human Behavior
Volume74
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017 Sept 1

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2015S1A3A2046711). This work was also supported (in part) by the Yonsei University Future-leading Research Initiative of 2015 (2015-22-0053).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Psychology(all)

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