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To propose and evaluate a novel management structure that encourages knowledge sharing across an organization.

The extant literature on the impact of organizational culture and its link to management structure is examined and used to develop a new knowledge sharing management structure. Roadblocks to implementing a new management structure and methods for overcoming these impediments are discussed. The efficacy of the proposed management structure is evaluated empirically by examining its effect on organizations that have implemented portions of the proposed structure.

The foundational ideas behind the proposed knowledge management organizational structure and the structure itself have been implemented in parts at various organizations located both in the USA and internationally. While the full management structure model has not been evaluated, the portions implemented in various organizations have enabled these organizations to assume leading roles in their respective industries.

The proposed knowledge sharing management structure has not been fully implemented under controlled circumstances. The empirical evaluation is performed on portions of the proposed model, thus the full impact of the proposed management structure may well exceed the described benefits and additional structural‐shift roadblocks may limit the realization of the proposed benefits.

The proposed knowledge sharing management structure gives managers a practical way to approach cross organizational knowledge sharing, which is frequently identified as a theoretical benefit of knowledge management. Means for diminishing or circumventing recognized impediments to organizational change are described to further facilitate the implementation of the proposed cross‐organizational knowledge sharing structure.

The proposed knowledge sharing management structure is organized around knowledge‐based teams of knowledge workers, but further extends this concept to include larger knowledge groups to transform an organization into a knowledge‐based organization. If an organization's functional structure can be successfully transformed, then this enables the maximization of competitive advantage realized through knowledge management initiatives, more specifically through knowledge sharing. Upper level management, who are responsible for organizational change are the primary audience, though the principals described may be implemented through a more grass roots approach by lower level management.

Emphasis is placed on knowledge-sharing practices and their influence on the power structure influenced by the technological background of the organization. This paper aims to focus on technological skills institutionalized to build organizational technological capital favoring the knowledge-sharing practices. It aims to extend the sociology literature by providing a conceptual background to explain the restructuring initiatives through the stabilizing role of technological capital.

Two comparative case studies have been conducted: the first study took place in a public company and the second study was carried out in a private company of telecommunication involving a documentary study, an observation and semi-structured interviews.

The findings in this paper show that the knowledge-sharing practices in the organizational field are stabilized by the technological capital. The technological capital promotes a knowledge management system and plays an important role in restructuring the established power within knowledge intensive organizations.

Chief executive officers are encouraged to promote sharing practices through developing an innovation culture and valuing technological skills. Relevance should be granted to the technological capital, which aligns the restructuring of a learning organization and promotes the knowledge management systems and stabilizes the organizational structure. Organizations should capitalize a set of technological skills as part of their organizational relevant capital.

Based on the practice theory of Bourdieu, this paper lights on the triad relation between knowledge sharing/organizational structure/technological capital through comparing between public/private management modes. A theoretical framework is proposed to overlap the ambiguity of the relation between knowledge and power.

Being mindful of the importance of organizational structure and organizational culture for knowledge management in companies, the purpose of this study is to investigate the organizational prerequisites for creating and sharing knowledge. The goals are to determine whether and to what extent the attributes of organic structure contribute to the creation and sharing of knowledge and to show that an organizational culture which supports knowledge stimulates the processes of knowledge creation and sharing.

The data for the empirical study was obtained through a survey of 150 respondents, employed in 30 companies from several industries, in the Republic of Serbia. The questionnaire was adapted to the needs of the study and was developed based on the theoretical knowledge and findings of several previous studies on processes of knowledge creation and knowledge sharing. A regression method was used to test all hypotheses.

The results show that both the organic structure and the organizational culture that support knowledge have positive effects on knowledge creation, while knowledge sharing is positively influenced only by the knowledge supporting culture of an organization.

This study contributes to organization studies and knowledge management theory because of the holistic approach taken with regards to the issue involved and the fact that it takes into account a large number of the significant characteristics of organizational structure and culture that are relevant to knowledge management processes. The findings could prove useful to managers when structuring an organization and shaping its culture to enhance knowledge management.

Knowledge sharing is recognized as one of the most important ways to improve organizational performance. Organizations strive to facilitate knowledge sharing routines, yet these attempts often fail. Although the successful deployment of knowledge sharing practices has been a focus of knowledge management and organizational performance studies, little research has considered the impacts of institutional structures. As such, the purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which institutional structures facilitate knowledge sharing practices and their impacts on organizational performance.

Based on 220 usable survey responses, the authors applied structural equation modeling (SEM) to observe the extent to which institutional structures enhance organizational performance through knowledge sharing, and other important knowledge sharing‐related constructs (i.e. leadership and punitive behavior). The healthcare industry was used as the research context as it is a knowledge‐intensive industry.

The study finds that knowledge sharing practices were strongly influenced by institutional structures, and together considerably enhanced patient safety. Furthermore, the institutional structures had a high impact on leadership roles and the abatement of punitive behaviors, which in turn collectively considerably enhanced patient safety.

This paper recognizes the power of institutional structures that successfully facilitate knowledge sharing practices within an environment that is unfriendly to knowledge sharing behaviors.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the relationship between learning culture, inquiry and dialogue, knowledge sharing structure and affective commitment to change. Also, the paper examines the mediating effect of employee resilience on the relationship between learning culture, inquiry and dialogue, knowledge sharing structure and affective commitment to change.

The sample comprised of responses from 510 employees’ working in information technology companies based in India. Confirmatory factor analysis was employed to analyse the proposed measurement model and structural equation modelling was used to test the study hypotheses. Additionally, the study utilized mediation analyses proposed by Preacher and Hayes (2004) to investigate the mediating role of employee resilience.

The results show significant relationship between the study variables. Employee resilience was found to partially mediate the relationship between learning culture, inquiry and dialogue, knowledge sharing structure and affective commitment to change.

Examining the relationship between learning culture, inquiry and dialogue, knowledge sharing structure and employee resilience can have significant implications for organizations. The proposed study framework can be utilized by the researchers and human resource practitioners to frame organizational practices and interventions to develop a pool of resilient and change committed workforce.

First, the general understanding of the relationship between learning culture, inquiry and dialogue, knowledge sharing structure and affective commitment to change is scant in literature. Second, the study extends the previous research by investigating the mediating role of employee resilience between learning culture, inquiry and dialogue, knowledge sharing structure and affective commitment to change.

The purpose of this study is to identify how knowledge sharing literature has discussed task, structure, technology and people as elements of organizational change and to examine the interactions between the four elements of knowledge sharing.

The research questions guiding the study are: How do organizational change elements influence knowledge sharing? and What are the critical elements of organizational change in relation to knowledge sharing? Based on Leavitt’s (1965) organizational change model, 133 articles published between 2000 and 2012 from 13 journals were reviewed and analyzed.

The total number of articles covering task, structure, technology and people in knowledge sharing was 49, 79, 49 and 97, respectively. Of all references, 97 articles (72 per cent) discussed the important aspects of people, and 79 articles (59 per cent) emphasized the influential role of organizational structure in knowledge sharing. The highest frequency of interactions (48 articles) was the interaction between structure and people (Interaction 5).

To capture broader phenomena on knowledge sharing in organizational change, multiple data sources and a variety of journals with a longer timeframe should be collected and a more comprehensive review should be conducted. All perspectives of organizational change were not applied to this study. Theoretically, this study attempted to illuminate how knowledge sharing has been explored through the lens of four elements in organizational change and the interactions between the elements. This study attempted to expand the use of Leavitt’s (1965) model by applying interactive relationships among the elements to knowledge sharing.

The findings can advance strategic and managerial practice by informing the planning and development of knowledge sharing associated with change in organizations. A key question is how to identify the major component of change which will trigger the other changes in the current architecture of knowledge sharing in their organizations. This study suggests that elements of structure and people, when organization face either planned or unplanned change, are critical for successful knowledge sharing by making the interactive connections with other components of change.

The contributions of this study are that it provides an integrative review in selected journals of knowledge sharing in terms of organizational change. By examining how knowledge sharing studies have addressed the four change factors and multi component changes, this study explains one change in knowledge sharing leads to multi-component changes. Additional contribution is that it makes connections between knowledge sharing and organizational change.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediator role that knowledge sharing plays between organisational culture, organisational structure, and technology infrastructure and process improvement in a knowledge management context in manufacturing enterprises operating in the food, beverage and textile industry.

An empirical study is conducted with a sample of 200 food, beverage and textile companies. Data are obtained by means of a survey questionnaire applied to general managers in each of the sample firms. The impact of the factors organisational culture, organisational structure and technology infrastructure on process improvement via knowledge sharing is assessed. Structural equation modelling and maximum likelihood estimation are applied to find the direction and strength of the relationships.

The main findings indicate the significant relationships between knowledge sharing and process improvement, between organisational culture and knowledge sharing, and between organisational structure and knowledge sharing. The relationship between technology infrastructure and knowledge sharing is found not to be significant.

The findings of the present study are limited to the food, beverage and textile industry. Future research could incorporate data from other manufacturing sectors or service companies.

This study provides practical guidance for general managers who wish to implement process improvement programmes.

Several authors have noted that there are few research studies concerning the interaction between each phase of knowledge management and total quality management practices. This study is interested in knowledge sharing and its impact on process improvement in a knowledge management context.

The sharing of knowledge between partners in collaborative relationships is widely accepted to be fundamental to supporting strategic decision making, particularly in relation to innovation management and business sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to focus on how the structure of collaborative relationships in business networks may determine successful knowledge sharing and thus improve decision making and business performance.

Expert interviews were conducted with participants operating in networks and business ecosystem in four different sectors in Italy and Germany, exploring the process of knowledge sharing, organisational learning and decision making within collaborative relationships. A qualitative textual analysis was used to analyse the experts’ responses.

The research found that an organisation’s network position and the network structure, as well as the governance and richness of the business ecosystem in which it operates, influence its ability to share knowledge, to innovate and therefore to compete sustainably.

The research demonstrates that innovative strategic decision making, based on access to appropriate knowledge, occurs within the context of social and business network relations operating within a broader more diverse business ecosystem. Closer dyadic or small working group ties best facilitate trust and sharing of the most valuable knowledge. Appropriate participation in and management of such structures is therefore essential to support knowledge-based decision making, and critical to sustained competitive advantage.

The research focusses on how interfirm relationships are established and maintained, how firms establish trust and facilitate knowledge sharing forming the basis of organisational learning.

This paper aims to examine how organizational culture, structure and technology infrastructure influence knowledge sharing.

This study is based on quantitative research, administered on 90 managerial staff in multinational corporations (MNCs) based in Malaysia.

The paper explains the role of organizational cultural and structure on knowledge-sharing processes in MNCs, with the moderating effect of technology infrastructure. Learning and development, top management support and centralization are positively related to knowledge sharing, using technology infrastructure as a moderator.

The findings will help MNCs to create an appropriate environment of knowledge sharing. However, the research is limited to MNC’s in Penang, Malaysia, only. Furthermore, similar research can be extended to MNCs in other Asian countries with a larger sample which may bring more statistical power and, thereby, increases generalizability.

The outcome of this research provides useful indications of how organizations can work to ensure knowledge sharing within their work place.

While the links between organizational culture and knowledge sharing and between organizational structure and knowledge sharing have been examined independently, few studies have investigated the association between the three concepts. This paper examines the nature of this relationship and presents empirical evidence, which suggests that the relationship between organizational culture, organizational structure and knowledge sharing is moderated by the technology infrastructure.

This study aims to contribute to understanding of knowledge management and sharing in the public sector in the Middle East through a case study based investigation of knowledge management initiatives and associated challenges and barriers.

Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 15 police officers of different rank and position. Questions focussed on knowledge management strategies and approaches to encouraging employees to exchange and share knowledge, and difficulties associated with encouraging officers to share knowledge. Interviews were either recorded and transcripts created, or notes were taken. A three‐stage thematic analysis of the interview transcripts was undertaken.

The Dubai Police Force has made a strategic commitment to the development of knowledge management to enhance performance. It established a Skills Investment Programme in 2003, a Knowledge Management Department in 2005, and more recently, in 2009, a Curriculum Department. However, the evidence from interviews suggests that the force has yet to succeed in embedding a knowledge culture. Four key factors were identified repeatedly as potential barriers to knowledge sharing: organizational structure, leadership, time allocation, and trust.

This article demonstrates the importance of leadership, time allocation, and trust in promoting a knowledge culture and encouraging knowledge sharing. In Arab cultures, leadership and trust, and associated rewards such as respect have a particular role to play.