Impact of knowledge management enablers on knowledge sharing. Is trust a missing link in SMEs of emerging economies?
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/WJEMSD-02-2016-0010 |
| Pages | 16-33 |
| Date | 13 March 2017 |
| Published date | 13 March 2017 |
| Author | Muhammad Yasir,Abdul Majid |
| Subject Matter | Strategy,Business ethics,Sustainability |
Impact of knowledge management
enablers on knowledge sharing
Is trust a missing link in SMEs
of emerging economies?
Muhammad Yasir and Abdul Majid
Department of Management Sciences, Hazara University, Mansehra, Pakistan
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of trust in the relationship between
knowledge management enablers (i.e. top management support, organizational culture, knowledge
management system quality, and openness in communication) on knowledge sharing in small and medium
enterprises (SMEs) in Pakistan.
Design/methodology/approach –The study was conducted through self-administered survey of
employees of SMEs in Pakistan. Correlation, Baron and Kenny approach (causal steps approach) and
PROCESS Macro (normal test theory) developed by Hayes were used to find out the direct and indirect effects
of trust among knowledge management enablers and knowledge sharing.
Findings –The results have shown that trust of employees at SMEs was developed through knowledge
management enablers which promote knowledge sharing. Therefore, the relationship between knowledge
management enablers, trust, and knowledge sharing is positive.
Research limitations/implications –The current study only considered the single aspect of knowledge
management system, i.e. knowledge sharing; some other aspects of knowledge management system such as
knowledge creation and knowledge utilization can be used for future studies at SMEs sector.
Practical implications –The mediation of trust between top management support, culture, openness in
communication, and knowledge sharing provided that trustworthy relationships between the members of an
organization would lead to enhance the knowledge sharing activities. In order to promote the knowledge
sharing attitudes within the organization, the managers should consider knowledge management enablers
(top management support, organizational culture, and openness in communication) along with trustworthy
environment as an energetic force for the development of knowledge management systems.
Originality/value –The study confirmed the mediating effect of trust between the relationships of top
management support, organizationalculture, openness in communication, and knowledgesharing, while there
is a partial mediatingrole of trust between knowledge management system quality and knowledge sharing.
Keywords SMEs, Trust, Knowledge sharing, Knowledge management enablers
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) show significant strength for the development of
leading and developing economies (Acs and Audretsch, 1990). The fast-changing global
market competition increases the importance of SMEs for both leading and developing
countries through their strength to innovate new products (Zeng et al., 2010; Bruque and
Moyano, 2007). In the development and competitiveness of the emergent economies, SMEs
have major contributions in the areas of economic growth (Neck and Dockner, 1987),
revenue generation (Acs and Audretsch, 1990), and major employment creation (Kotey and
Meredith, 1997). Therefore, after realizing the clear role of SMEs, the emergent economies
focus their attention on strategic development of SMEs (Schlogl, 2004).
In the twenty-first century, due to the emergence of knowledge-based economic
systems, the knowledge assets gain much more importance and primary attention of
entrepreneurs as compared to other resources such as physical and financial (Nisula and
Kianto, 2015; Johnston and Blumentritt, 1998). Knowledge-based economies largely
depend on the value of the knowledge management system such as creating, sharing, and
utilization of knowledge (Verma, 1995). Traditional economies were based on quantitative
World Journal of
Entrepreneurship, Management
and Sustainable Development
Vol. 13 No. 1, 2017
pp. 16-33
© Emerald PublishingLimited
2042-5961
DOI 10.1108/WJEMSD-02-2016-0010
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2042-5961.htm
16
WJEMSD
13,1
inputs such as capital, labor, and land, while the emergent economicstructures such as the
knowledge-based economy are based on the qualitative input and factors such as
innovation (Gardner et al., 2006) and human capital (Ogunyomi and Bruning, 2015).
Therefore, transformation of economies from traditional to knowledge-based forced SMEs
for the intensive use of knowledge resources in order to enhance the economic activities
(Cabrera and Cabrera, 2005).
Besides the major contribution of SMEs, the failure rate of SMEs in various sectors
remainsatanalarmingpositioninbothdeveloped as well as in developing economies
(Zimmerer et al., 2008). In emergence economies, a large number of SMEs failed at the
initial stages of the operation (Hodgents and Kuratko, 2004). The results of the study
conducted in the Malaysian context show that there is atleast a failure rate of 60 percent in
the first five years (Ahmad and Seet, 2009). In the same way, several past studies from
England, USA, and Australia have shown thatthefailurerateofSMEsisapproximately
80 percent within first five to ten years of their operation (Hodgents and Kuratko, 2004).
It is proved from the past studies that the survival of SMEs in both leading and emerging
economies require to cope with the increase in challenges due to the emergence of a
knowledge-based economy. Hence, survival in the knowledge-based economy forced
SMEs to cope with fundamental operational issues as well as developing knowledge and
intellectual capital for survival and long-term competitive growth (Ibrahim and Heng,
2015; Athar and Aamir, 2004).
Knowledge assets play an important role for the growth, survival, and better
performance in knowledge-based economy (Huang and Jim Wu, 2010; Bontis 1998;
Soto-Acosta et al. (2014). Besides, there are various evidences available in the literature that
knowledge sharing and knowledge dissemination is a valuable source for organizational
survival, e.g. Cabrera and Cabrera (2005) and Leonardi (2014) explained that knowledge
sharing between members of any group allows them to capitalize and exploit on knowledge-
based resources. Prior empirical studies have found the causal relationship between
knowledge management enablers and trust (e.g. open communication (Ruppel and
Harrington, 2000), top management support (Skarlicki and Latham, 1997), quality of
information system (Ho et al., 2010). The association between trust and knowledge sharing
has also been found positive and significant in a number of studies (Nelson and Cooprider,
1996; Tsai and Ghoshal, 1998; Hsu et al., 2007). Most of the studies used direct relationships
to confirm the impact of knowledge enablers on knowledge sharing. Some of them have
proved the significant impact of knowledge management enablers on knowledge sharing
(Pan and Scarbrough, 1998; Lee and Choi, 2003), while some studies hypothesize that most
of knowledge management enablers have shown insignificant impact on knowledge sharing
in a direct relationship (Tan and Md Noor, 2013). The insignificant relationship of the
variables pushes the researchers to think about the indirect relationship, which is the main
theme of this research. Therefore, the primary concern of the current study is to fill the gap
through incorporating indirect relationships of trust between knowledge management
enablers and knowledge sharing.
The current study examines the mediating role of trust between knowledge management
enablers and knowledge sharing. This study proposes knowledge management enablers –
trust –knowledge sharing model after considering the mediating effect of trust that
influences knowledge sharing in SMEs in emerging economies. In order to reach the
proposed objectives of this inquiry, the study has been divided into different sections to
develop argument. Section 2 discusses the literature of knowledge management enablers
and their relevance to trust and knowledge sharing. Section 3 explains the theoretical
framework based on our discussion related to organizational, communication, and
technological enablers of knowledge management, trust, and knowledge sharing. Section 4
presents the research methodology, while Section 5 focuses on the results and findings.
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Impact of
knowledge
management
enablers
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