IMPACT OF KNOWLEDGE SHARING ON ORGANISATIONAL PERFORMANCE IN SELECTED COMMERCIAL BANKS IN ENUGU STATE, NIGERIA
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this work is to examine the impact of knowledge sharing on organisational performance. specifically, the study aimed to achieve the following objectives: To determine the relationship between explicit knowledge sharing and product innovation , to determine the relationship between explicit knowledge sharing and quality service delivery, to find the relationship between tacit knowledge-sharing and product innovation , to examine tacit knowledge sharing and quality service delivery. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey design. The study had a population of 736 drawn from 4 banks in Enugu and sample size of 259 was drawn using Taro Yamane’s formula at 5% error of tolerance and 95% level of confidence. Simple random sampling method was adopted to give every member of the population an equal chance of selection. The study used the proportionality formula to give a proper representation to the designated banks in the ratio of 4:3:2:1. The instruments used for data collection were questionnaire and oral interview. Content validity was used to ascertain the quality of the research instrument and test-retest reliability was performed with Spearman’s Rank Order Correlation Coefficient with a result of 0.91. Hypotheses were tested using Multiple Linear
Regression (MLR). The findings revealed thatexplicit knowledge sharing measures (time devoted, accessibility and usefulness) significantly affected product innovation (Fc =39.90< Ft=2.21; α< 0.05) and quality service delivery (Fc = 88.89< Ft =2.21; α < 0.05). Tacit knowledge sharing measures (time devoted, accessibility, and usefulness) have significant effect on employee product innovation (Fc =64.76< Ft =2.21; α< 0.05) and also had a significant impact on quality service delivery (Fc
=29.29< Ft =2.21; α < 0.05). The study concludes that the more employees share explicit and tacit knowle knowledge,the more new and improved products will be developed, and the more service delivery will be enhanced which in the long run improve organisational performance.
The study recommends that knowledge repository should be organized in such a way that it can be accessed at the convenience of employees, and well suited even for the busy employees. Management should also create a platform that encourages open, friendly, unstructured, and spontaneous relationships as these will provide a broader-band-width that can accommodate all types of non verbal communication.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the Study
As the world moves towards a “knowledge based econo my”, knowledge is increasingly being considered as the main driver of this economy (Jain, Shandu and Sidhu. 2007:23). The success of economies in the future shall be based on how companies or organizations acquire, use, and leverage knowledge effectively (Bircham-Connolly, Corner and Bowden. 2005; Jain et al. 2007). In the work of Tan, Lye, Ng, and Lin (2010:187) knowledge has been documented as the most significant building block in determining the status of businesses of today ever since the steadily shift from a once upon hyped ‘information age’ to t he current and controversial ‘knowledge era’. Knowledge has been recognized as the most important factor in determining the survival of organizations. It is therefore imperative to maximize the value of knowledge by adequately understanding how to leverage and share knowledge in organizations. This process as opined by Sharrat and Usoro, (2003) is difficult, but not impossible. Modern organizations are striving towards managing their knowledge so as to enable it to be shared from within the organization. This is due to the fact that knowledge is now regarded as an asset capable of giving many untold benefits that make a difference between successful and less successful organization (Ismail and Yusof, 2010:1a).
Matin, Alvani, Jandaghi, and Pashazadeh, (2010) opine that knowledge management as an activity started since the human awareness of knowledge. However, it emerged as a professional discipline at the end of 1980s and passed various periods and approaches. Successfully implementing knowledge management systems depends on employee behaviour (Park, Ribiere, and Schulte, 2004), especially on knowledge sharing among employees (Gagne, 2009). Knowledge sharing has been cited to be a knowledge process that has been identified by scholars and practitioners to be crucial within and between organizational settings (Boer, Baalen, and Kumar, 2002). That is why it has been seen as one of the most important process of knowledge management which gradually evolves and improves the production system and its constituting elements (Du, Ai, and Ren, 2007; Marques, Cardoso, and Zappala, 2008).
Knowledge is of little value unless it is shared (Small and Sage, 2006:156; Ismail and Yusof, 2010:2a) and the significance of knowledge sharing lies in the quality of the knowledge shared….
