Knowledge sharing while teleworking : How it occurs, differences and knowledge sharing barriers

Abstract: Knowledge is the resource that provides the best possibilities of being competitive since it increases while used and is difficult to copy. Knowledge sharing has been shown to increase organizational performance in both tangible and intangible measures. Therefore, it is important that employees of a research and development department in a large Swedish industry, that were recommended to telework in combination with short-time working due to covid-19, continue sharing knowledge. This study aimed to analyze how employees in a development department share knowledge while teleworking and how it differs from knowledge sharing in a traditional office. The phenomenon was analyzed in-depth, especially what prevents the knowledge from being shared and knowledge sharing barriers that exist during telework. The objective was to gain further knowledge of how departments can share knowledge efficiently while teleworking. A qualitative single case study was conducted and 8 semi-structured interviews were held with employees at the department. The findings suggest that knowledge sharing occurs with tools that are used in a traditional office and that is no difference in terms of whom employees share knowledge with, but the face-to-face meetings are missing. A further suggestion is that it occurs by less informal knowledge sharing and that the meetings tend to have a stricter agenda that is kept at a higher degree than when working in a traditional office. The knowledge sharing barriers identified were: challenging to express knowledge, time constraints, uncertainty which knowledge to share with whom, less informal places to share knowledge, lack of trust, differences in experience/knowledge/education, attitude, and culture & leadership. The results give companies in similar situations cognizance of how knowledge sharing occurs and differ when suddenly teleworking is required and knowledge sharing barriers that exist. These findings identify risks and difficulties of knowledge sharing when teleworking.