Knowledge Sharing in Public Organization : A study of three municipalities in the Jönköping Region

Abstract: Background: Knowledge within organizations can play a vital role for organizational development. The role of sharing knowledge in public organizations by means of the use of information systems have not been studied to a larger extent. During 2016 the thirteen municipalities within Region Jönköping’s län adhered to a so-called digital agenda to develop the municipal organizations and service delivery. One of the goals of the digital agenda was to increase knowledge sharing by digital means between municipalities.  Purpose: The purpose of the thesis was to investigate how knowledge sharing practices taking place between municipalities in region Jönköping’s län. The authors performed a pilot case study in the educational department within three municipalities.  Method: This study based on qualitative research and data were gathered through semi-structured interviews and analyzed according to the conventional content analysis. Semi-structured interviews were performed based on the theoretical frameworks of Nonaka’s Model of Knowledge Management, which resulted in an interview guide with open-ended questions. Conventional content was used for qualitative data analysis.  Conclusion: According to our analysis we have found that knowledge sharing in public organization is generally seen as one of the most important elements that should be wisely managed. Collaboration in public sector basically depend on the so many things and it starts with the government initiative but ends with public awareness. It is also very important that organizations can manage knowledge resources more successfully if employees are willingly to share their knowledge with colleagues. People of organizations are quite comfortable with collaborative technologies because the advance of the internet and related technologies. In the public sector worker or employees should motivated, get more encouragement and support by the leaders.