Antecedents of knowledge sharing – Examining the influence of learning and performance orientation

Knowledge sharing is an important process in creating competitive advantage. Previous literature mainly identifies environmental and organizational factors that influence the effective transfer of knowledge. However, the focus shifts to the analysis of personal determinants as antecedents for the individual’s engagement in knowledge sharing activities, like personality traits. In this paper, we introduce employees’ goal orientations (i.e. learning orientation or performance orientation) to the individual antecedents of knowledge sharing behavior. It is argued that learning orientation positively influences knowledge sharing, whereas performance orientation is a negative influence factor. As goal orientations are determined by personality traits, we can also confirm existing hypotheses regarding this relationship. The theoretical model developed in this paper is empirically tested on a sample of 124 engineers of an internationally operating engineering company, and significant relationships among the constructs were found.

Research highlights► Personality traits impact knowledge sharing via goal orientations. ► Learning orientation impacts knowledge sharing positively. ► Performance orientation has a negative impact on knowledge sharing.