Improving the organizational knowledge sharing through online social networks: The mediating role of employee motivation

Social technologies can offer a strong means for organizations to manage their information flows and thus make changes on the organizational knowledge sharing, which may then be linked to employees’ productivity and performance enhancements. The purpose of this paper is to predict the impact of using the online social network on employee motivation and employee motivation effects on organizational knowledge sharing.

From employees of tax affairs organization, data are collected. For evaluating the model’s elements, a questionnaire was designed. It was revised by experts with significant experiences. For statistical analysis, SMART-PLS 3.2 is used.

Findings have confirmed the validity of the proposed model. The results also have indicated that online social networks, social trust and social goals have a positive and important impact on employee motivation. Furthermore, obtained results have revealed that organizational knowledge sharing is significantly influenced by employee motivation and organizational commitment.

The study contributes to the literature on organizational knowledge sharing and employee motivation in online social networking sites. Organizations could benefit from this knowledge by accepting that social networking sites must be considered as a critical component of the knowledge sharing, and precise targeting efforts could be directed for those users. Also, it could be exciting to study further factors affecting the development of organizational knowledge sharing in larger organizations.

The paper rises the understanding of what online social networking encompasses and how it can be utilized for the organization. The ideas and discussion are similarly applicable to libraries and may give them new visions into the delivery of social networking applications as part of their facilities to users.