Knowledge sharing motivation among IT personnel: Integrated model and implications of employment contracts

•Integrated model regarding collaborative behavior and knowledge sharing among workers.•Employment contract as a new factor that affect collaborative behavior and knowledge sharing.•Outsourcing as a framework that combines various forms of employment contracts.•The integrated model and the employment contract were validated on IT workers from several sectors.

The existing research literature suggests that six main factors influence the collaborative behavior of workers. Collaborative behavior has a crucial impact on the thriving of an organization and its human capital, being a necessary condition for motivating workers to share and exchange their knowledge. The relevant factors are: the workers’ identification with the organization; self, means and external efficacy; human resource management practices; perceived organizational support. While previous studies have dealt with these factors as sub-groups, the current study proposes and tests an integrative model that combines all of them, and adds a new factor: employment contract. The model was validated on IT workers from several sectors.