Critical factors for knowledge sharing in technology-intensive organizations: evidence from UAE service sector

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify the critical factors that impact knowledge sharing (KS) and their importance in technology-intensive service organizations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Design/methodology/approach

An extensive literature review was conducted to identify the critical factors for KS in technology-intensive organizations. Then, an analytical hierarchical process (AHP) was applied to prioritize the primary criteria and sub-criteria. This study consists of nine primary criteria and 34 sub-criteria that are relevant to KS in technology-intensive organizations.

Findings

The results show that organizational leadership (OL) is the most important factor that impacts KS in technology-intensive organizations, which is followed by organizational culture (OC), organizational strategy (OSY), corporate performance (CP), organizational process (OP), employee engagement (EE) and organizational structure (OST). According to the results, the least impactful factor is human resource management (HRM).

Research limitations/implications

Because the results in this study were only obtained from service organizations, future studies can include manufacturing organizations from different countries and additional success factors. Future studies could also use structural equational modelling methodology for better understanding the relations among these critical factors for KS.

Originality value

This paper is one of the first in the UAE to examine the broad range of critical success factors for KS in technology-intensive organizations.

Citation

AlShamsi, O. and Ajmal, M. (2018), "Critical factors for knowledge sharing in technology-intensive organizations: evidence from UAE service sector", Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 384-412. https://doi.org/10.1108/JKM-05-2017-0181