Factors affecting attitudes and intentions towards knowledge sharing in the Dubai Police Force
Highlights
► A model of the factors affecting knowledge sharing in the Dubai Police Force is proposed and tested. ► Leadership, trust, organisational structure, time, and IT affect knowledge sharing. ► Rewards do not affect knowledge sharing posing questions about the relevance of motivation theory.
Introduction
Knowledge sharing is widely recognised to be a central component of successful knowledge management, and one of the central characteristics of a healthy knowledge culture is that knowledge sharing is embedded in the way in which the organisation works. Knowledge sharing is fundamental to generating new ideas and developing new opportunities through the socialisation and learning process of employees (Lin, 2007). However, employees will only share knowledge if they feel that it is their interest to do so. Employees’ willingness to share knowledge can be affected by a range of organisational factors that might be seen as the components of a knowledge sharing culture. Increasing their capacity to manage knowledge is one of the major challenges facing contemporary organisations (Davenport & Prusak, 1998). Accordingly, there has been considerable interest in the factors that may influence knowledge sharing in organisations, coupled with an acknowledgement that these factors may differ, or at the very least differ in their impact, in different organisations and specifically may vary between private and public sector organisations. Accordingly, researchers and practitioners need to examine these factors in the context of specific organisations.
This article contributes to understanding of knowledge sharing in the public sector in the Middle East through a case study based investigation of the factors that affect knowledge sharing in the Dubai Police Force (DPF). Police forces are part of the public sector and the primary mission of any police force is to protect life and property, preserve law and order, and prevent and detect crime (Luen & Al-Hawamdeh, 2001). Accordingly, the management of intelligence and knowledge is a crucial aspect of the work of policing, and police forces need to be proactive in managing both explicit and implicit knowledge, and in developing their competencies in knowledge management and in promoting and facilitating knowledge sharing.
There has been limited previous work on knowledge sharing in police forces, but there is a growing body of work on knowledge management and knowledge sharing in the public sector. Some argue that knowledge sharing is embedded in the public service culture of public sector organisations (Chiem, 2001), but whether or not this is the case there is growing evidence that there are potential barriers and facilitators to knowledge sharing in the public sector, which need to be managed in order to optimise the exploitation of knowledge assets (e.g. Cong et al., 2007, Sandhu et al., 2011). Similarly, whilst there is a body of research on knowledge sharing in Far Eastern cultures and in India (e.g. Fong, 2005, Joseph and Jacob, 2011, Kim and Lee, 2005, Lin, 2008) there has been very little research on Middle Eastern cultures. In particular, in order to implement successful knowledge management and promote knowledge sharing in Arab cultures it is necessary to understand and accommodate the associated cultural values and cultural approaches to organisation (Sabri, 2005, Weir and Hutchings, 2005).
The next section is a summary of previous research on knowledge sharing and the factors that affect it, with specific reference to research in, respectively, the public sector, and the Middle East. The hypotheses and model are developed in the research design section. Next, the methodology is outlined, including the development of the questionnaire, sampling, and data analysis. Data analysis using structural question modelling (SEM) generates a model, which demonstrates the effect of a number of factors on attitude towards knowledge sharing and intention to knowledge share. The findings and discussion sections report on this analysis, present the model, and compare it with findings from previous research. Finally, the paper offers conclusions and recommendations for practice and further research.
Section snippets
The factors that affect knowledge sharing
According to Wang and Noe (2010), knowledge sharing refers to the provision of task information and know-how to help others and to collaborate with others to solve problems, develop ideas, or implement policies or procedures. Similarly, Dyer and Nobeoka (2000) define knowledge sharing as the activities that help communities of people to work together, facilitating the exchange of their knowledge, enhancing organisational learning capacity, and increasing their ability to achieve individual and
Research design
Taking into account previous research into the factors that affect knowledge sharing, both in the public sector and elsewhere, and complementing this with insights from an earlier qualitative investigation into knowledge sharing in the Dubai Police Force, a number of hypotheses have been formulated. These are presented in the research model, as shown in Fig. 1. The supporting case for each hypothesis is briefly outlined below.
Attitude towards knowledge sharing and intention to knowledge share
Methodology
This article develops a model of the factors that affect knowledge sharing in the Dubai Police Force, using a questionnaire-based survey of the DPF's employees.
Findings
SEM first used to generate the measurement model; this led to the elimination of eight items. Next SEM was used to test the structural model. This stage confirmed that five out of six factors have a strong effect on knowledge sharing in the Dubai Police. These factors are leadership, organisation structure, trust, time and IT. Reward does not have a significant effect. The details of this analysis are presented next.
Discussion
This research has proposed a model of the factors that affect knowledge sharing, and in the context of this study, the Dubai Police Force, all except one of the proposed relationships in the model have been supported. Firstly, consistent with TRA (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975), and with earlier research on knowledge sharing (e.g. Bock et al., 2005, Lin, 2007), it has been found that employee attitudes to knowledge sharing have a strong influence on intention to knowledge share. Indeed, the strength
Contribution
This research has used a questionnaire-based survey in order to establish the factors that influence attitude and intention towards knowledge sharing in the Dubai Police Force. As such it makes an important contribution to the exploration of knowledge sharing in the under-researched areas of public sector organisations, specifically police forces, and organisations in the Middle East.
The structural model suggested a strong relationship between attitude towards knowledge sharing and intention to
Ibrahim Seba is a police officer with the Dubai Police Force and a research student at Manchester Metropolitan University. His PhD research centres on knowledge management and sharing in police forces.
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Ibrahim Seba is a police officer with the Dubai Police Force and a research student at Manchester Metropolitan University. His PhD research centres on knowledge management and sharing in police forces.
Jennifer Rowley is Professor of Information and Communications. She has researched and published extensively in information and knowledge management, higher education, and marketing. Her current research focuses on knowledge management, digital marketing, and entrepreneurship and innovation.
Sian Lambert is Senior Lecturer in Information and Communications. Her teaching and research interests are in information and knowledge management, including information economics and value, organisational behaviour, knowledge management, and performance management.