| Knowledge management (KM) and human resource management (HRM) are decisive factors for organizations' viability and may contribute to the enhancement of productivity, efficiency, sustainability and the creation of an innovative and knowledgeable organizational culture. Lack of knowledge management raises unwillingness to share knowledge, thus leading to uncertainty and misunderstandings. Academics and practitioners identified that the relationship between KM and HRM may be critical to organizations, but this relationship has not been sufficiently explored. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to explore employees' perceptions and experiences concerning sharing of knowledge sharing and the key factors for building a relationship between KM and HRM. This relationship may promote knowledge sharing between employees and management. A purposive sample of 13 current employees in the cooperative banking sector of Cyprus was used for the present study. The data were collected through in-depth, unstructured, open-ended interviews. In the interviews, the perceptions and experiences of the participants concerning knowledge sharing and hiding in their workplace were obtained. Findings indicated that knowledge sharing promoted organizational citizenship behavior and positive organizational climate, whereas knowledge hiding promoted negative behavior and organizational culture. Additionally, knowledge hiding was increased among lower level employees than those in upper levels of the cooperative banking sector of Cyprus. Leadership, HRM, and knowledge management were clearly identified as key components in strengthening relationships between employees, building a learning culture, and promoting organizational citizenship behavior. Integration of KM and HRM can promote personal and professional growth for employees by increasing their knowledge and lead the organization to reach sustainable competitive advantage through innovation. Future studies examining individuals' experiences, perceptions and other factors leading to knowledge sharing and hiding, as well as, the linkage of HRM and KM, in other business sectors or in other countries are recommended. |
