Knowledge Sharing Process in Organisations: An Integrative Framework

Abstract: Aim: Knowledge sharing in an organisation is a vital element of knowledge management that organisations deal with. A major challenge that organisations face today is to find skilled labour and to keep them within the organisation. The aim of this study is to find out how the knowledge sharing process takes place among employees and managers in organisations. Method: This study was conducted by using a qualitative method. Eleven semi-structured interviews were held with managers and employees in Swedish companies. A thematic analysis approach was used for analysing the results. Result & Conclusions: Despite organisations having the need and necessity to share knowledge between employees, they don’t have a systematic approach on how to do so. This study provides a developed framework on how the knowledge sharing process can take place to ensure that knowledge isn’t lost due to retirement or unexpected leave. Suggestions for future research: Since this study is limited to Swedish companies, it would be of interest if future research would be conducted in the field of knowledge sharing to find out whether the sharing process varies from organisation to organisation, industry to industry or country to country. Moreover, this study suggests that future research should be conducted on knowledge sharing in combination with succession planning. Contribution of the thesis: As there was no systematic knowledge sharing process found in previous research, this study contributes to the existing theory with a developed integrated framework on the knowledge sharing process. Moreover, this study has contributed with providing a well-formulated understanding about the importance of knowledge sharing for organisational success. Keywords: Knowledge, knowledge sharing, knowledge sharing process