Influence Of Performance Appraisal On Individual Knowledge Sharing Based On Motivation Angle Of View

In knowledge era, knowledge becomes an important factor of production, more and more organizations regard knowledge management as means of getting and retaining competitive advantage. Knowledge sharing is core content of knowledge management; so many organizations manage knowledges just for promoting knowledge sharing between employees. Because knowledge sharing is not always happening naturally, it's necessary to intervene it by some management politics. Performance appraisal is one of most important management methods, but its impaction on knowledge sharing has not studied fully. Further more, effectively interveneing individual behaviors depending on knowing of his or her motives. But few researches on individual knowledge sharing motivations are found, especially in Chinese cultural environment. Again, knowledge sharing may result to nagetive effects, organization should keep it away. Therefore, this article analyzes the influencing mechanism of performance appraisal impacting on knowledge sharing, discusses performance appraisal methods promoting knowledge sharing, and explores management policies based on analysis on negative effects of knowledge sharing.This article studies mainly three questions:Chinese employees' motivation structure for knowledge sharing, the influencing mechanism of performance appraisal on knowledge sharing behaviors, and the negative effects of knowledge sharing. The first question is mainly about motivation factors and their relations, the second question about the direct influence, mediator mechanism, and moderator effects of work locus of control of 360 degree performance appraisal, contextual performance appraisal, performance appraisal politics, and team-based performance appraisal to knowledge sharing behaviors, the third question about the category, the producing menchanism, the controlling methods of knowledge sharing's negative effects. Based on theoretical analysis and empirical survey about 584 employees, the conclusions were made as follows:(1)Chinese employees'motivations for knowledge sharing include individual interest, achievement perception, GuanXI building, submission to rules, and attachment and responsibility for collectivity. They have different influences on knowledge sharing. Individual interest, attachment and responsibility are encouraging motivations for knowledge sharing; the other three are hygiene factors, they impact on knowledge sharing by mediator effects of individual interest, and attachment and responsibility for collectivity.(2)Performance appraisals have significant effects on employees'knowledge sharing. 360 degree performance appraisal, job dedication dimension of contextual performance appraisal, positive performance appraisal politics, and team-based performance appraisal can promote employees to share their knowledge with others, standardized path coefficients are separately 0.26(p<0.001),0.22(p<0.001),0.12(p<0.05) and 0.16(p< 0.01). Negative performance politics choke employees' knowledge sharing back. Achievement perception, individual interest, attachment and responsibility for collectivity partly mediate the relationship between 360 degree performance appraisal and knowledge sharing, submission to rules, attachment and responsibility for collectivity partly mediate the relationship between job dedication and knowledge sharing, Achievement perception, individual interest, attachment and responsibility for collectivity fully mediate the relationship between performance appraisal politics and knowledge sharing, submission to rules, attachment and responsibility for collectivity fully mediate the relationship between team-based performance appraisal and knowledge sharing. This article has not found significant moderator effects of work locus of control.(3)Knowledge sharing has three risks of nagetive effects which are restraining creativity, extruding organizational benefits, and aggravating bystander effects. The interactive relations among knowledge sharing, knowledge homogeneity and creativity reflect the mechanism of creativity being restrained, the interactive relations among organizational dependence, management policy and individual motives the mechanism of organizational benefits being extruded, the interactive relations among knowledge sharing, job responsibility and audience inhibition the mechanism of bystander effects being aggravated. Organizations should balance knowledge sharing and job competition, timely adjust knowledge providers, encourage diversified knowledge shring ways, and perfect organizational excitation system.This research provides good theoretical direction for managing employees' knowledge sharing. According to the conclusions, in order to motivate knowledge sharing, organizations should first build channels for releasing individual interests in knowledge sharing, foster employees' affection and responsibility to their team, collectivity and organization, and then shape sharing cultures and rules in organization, and then give employees positive appraisals so that they can have perceptions of achievement, and in the end, pay attention to knowledge sharing's effects, reduce meaningless knowledge sharing behaviors.Finally, the main conclusions were summarized and discussed, and the research limitation and future directions were also put forward.