How Do Individualism And Collectivism Impact Knowledge Sharing?

This thesis discussed how individualism and collectivism impact knowledge sharing in organizations on three different perspectives:personality, organizational trust, and inter-personal trust. Then, this thesis explored the mediating effect of both perceived fairness and trust in the relationship between individualism-collectivism and knowledge sharing. In practice, people vary in age, education, work experiences and personality. But organizations are not just a gathering of persons, but also an assembling of human capital, including experiences and knowledge that individuals have. Question raised when organizations wanted all such knowledge to sublimate and create more values for firms. Knowledge Management Systems have tried to solve problems in perspective of information technology. But more and more concern has being paid to knowledge sharing from organizational behavior and human resource management researchers. Based on Social Exchange Theory, this thesis added perceived fairness and trust as mediators. Samples are collected from304students and178workers. Data analysis showed support to relationships:individualism to behavior dimension of knowledge sharing; collectivism to all dimensions of knowledge sharing; mediating effect of perceived fairness on relationship between individualism and behavior dimension of knowledge sharing; mediating effect of both perceived fairness and trust on collectivism and three dimensions of knowledge sharing.The thesis may be helpful for managers in understanding how personal factors impact on knowledge sharing. The results and suggestions make it clearer for them to make decisions for improving knowledge sharing inside organizations.