Relationship between knowledge sharing and job satisfaction: a systematic review

Pages295-312
Published date14 May 2018
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/ILS-03-2018-0019
Date14 May 2018
AuthorGhulam Murtaza Rafique,Khalid Mahmood
Subject MatterLibrary & information science,Librarianship/library management,Library & information services
Relationship between knowledge
sharing and job satisfaction: a
systematic review
Ghulam Murtaza Rafique
Department of Library and Information Science, University of Sargodah,
Sargodah, Pakistan, and
Khalid Mahmood
Department of Information Management, University of the Punjab,
Lahore, Pakistan
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of thisstudy was to systematically collect and reviewthe English language studies
that provided empirical evidence for the existence of relationship between knowledge sharing (KS) and job
satisfaction(JS) and their impact on each other.
Design/methodology/approach A systematic review of the literature was conducted searching
Google Scholar,LISTA, ISI Web of Knowledge, Scopus and ProQuestDissertation and Theses. Searches were
completed through March2017. Language limit was applied; and manual searching from review articlesand
some key studies using backward and forward citation from Google Scholar was also completed. Studies
determining therelationship or correlation between KS and JS wereincluded and books were excluded in this
review. Dataextraction and critical appraisal wereperformed to determine the risk of bias of each study.
Findings The ndings clearlyreveal that these two variables had a signicant relationship with and were
inuenced by each other. It is concluded that KS hada positive impact on JS and, similarly, JS had strong
effect on KS among the individualsworking in different organizations.
Originality/value This reviewis rstto examine the relationship between KS and JS and their impacton
each other by systematically collecting and reviewing the English language studies. This study has
theoreticaland practical implications for managers and HR departments.
Keywords Relationship,Knowledge sharing,Literature review, Job satisfaction, Knowledgetransfer,
Systematicreview
Paper type Literature review
Background
Knowledge becomes a source of competitive advantage when it is shared among
employees (Sveiby, 2001). Knowledge sharing (KS) is a key element of knowledge
management which plays a vital role in the learning and development of individuals
working in organizations by donating and collecting their information, experience and
knowledge (Bock and Kim, 2002;Lichtenthaler and Ernst, 2006). KS occurs when a
knowledgeable worker supports his/her coworker by developing new capabilities and
experience. The ultimate objective of KS is to transfer the knowledge of organizational
resources and assets among the employees (Dawson, 2000) providing organizations with
a sustainable competitive advantage in the highly competitive economy (Wang and Noe,
2010). It is the key for managing tacit knowledge. Therefore, organizations should also
encourage face-to-face communication and the creation of shared learning experiences,
Knowledge
sharing and
job satisfaction
295
Received21 March 2018
Revised21 March 2018
Accepted9 April 2018
Informationand Learning Science
Vol.119 No. 5/6, 2018
pp. 295-312
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2398-5348
DOI 10.1108/ILS-03-2018-0019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2398-5348.htm
as well as build a KS culture (Carpenter and Rudge, 2003;Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995;
Ståhle and Grönroos, 2000). KS activities include informal communication,
brainstorming sessions, mentoring and coaching (Filius et al., 2000).
KS involves two parties. One is called knowledge supplier and the other is knowledge
demander (Javadpour and Samiei, 2017). These are also known as knowledge source and
knowledge receiver (Weggeman, 2000)orknowledge carrier and knowledge requester
(Oldenkamp, 2001). For KS, boththe parties should be willing to send or receive knowledge.
If one party is hesitant to share knowledge, the other will suffer and ultimately team,
department and organization will suffer too. Thus, organizations should encourage their
employees to share and receive new knowledge for overall development (Rehman et al.,
2014).
Empirical evidences revealed that there were a number of antecedents of KS behavior.
Ipe (2003) categorized them into four main groups, namely, the nature of knowledge,
motivation to share,opportunity to share and the culture of the work environment.
For instance, explicit knowledge would be easier to share than implicit/tacit knowledge.
Concerning the motivation to share knowledge, empirical studies have identied the factors
stimulating KS which were enjoyment,helping others and self-efcacy (Lin, 2007).However,
motivation to share knowledge is subjected to the availability of opportunity to do so.
Cabrera et al. (2006) explored that information and communications technology in the form
of electronic knowledgerepositories were being used to facilitate KS. The culture of the work
environment plays an important role such as communication climate and organizational
justice affect KS (Kim and Lee, 2006).
KS and job satisfaction (JS) are criticalelements for employees that play an active role in
attaining the organizationalobjectives at micro and macro level. Generally, JS is the attitude
of individuals abouttheir work (job). The concept of JS clearly aroused 75 years ago after the
work done by Hoppock (1935). Its importancecan be analyzed from the ndings of Granny
et al. (1992) in which they stated that more than 5,000 studies had been published on this
topic. Practitioners and academiciansbelieved that satised workers were more productive
and dynamic as compared to dissatisedones (Sarker et al., 2003).
A plethora of denitions was proposed by several researchers to identify multiple
aspects of JS. This concept has received a considerable attention of various researchers in
the elds of human resource management,business and psychology. This concept refers to
positive or negative emotional state resulting from appraisal of an employees job or work
(Locke, 1976) which comes from the evaluation of its characteristics (Hodson, 1991).
Mowday et al. (1982) argued that it was the relative strength of identication and
involvement of employees in a certain organization. Spector (1997) argued that JS was part
of an employees personalattitude or trait which was inuenced by managing and balancing
employeeswork-lifeexperiences and challenges at their workplace.
In another detailed denition, JS has been explained as a concept that includes all
characteristics of job and work environment that is rewarding, satisfying and fullling for
employees (Rutherfordet al.,2009).Simply, JS is:
The dierence between what an employee expects from job and what he/she actually gets from
job. When an employees expectations from job are less or equal to what job actually delivers in
return, employee is satised. On the contrary, job dissatisfaction results when individuals
expectations are higher from what the job actually delivers to him/her. (Saeed, 2016, p. 16)
Employees seek information and knowledge to accomplish their tasks and remain
responsive for the completion of numerous routine needs. Bontis et al. (2011) depicted that
employees were more engaged and motivated with their job when they were more satised
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