Motivation to share knowledge using wiki technology and the moderating effect of role perceptions

Abstract

One of the key challenges for innovation and technology-mediated knowledge collaboration within organizational settings is motivating contributors to share their knowledge. Drawing upon self-determination theory, we investigate 2 forms of motivation: internally driven (autonomous motivation) and externally driven (controlled motivation). Knowledge sharing could be viewed as a required in-role activity or as discretionary extra-role behavior. In this study, we examine the moderating effect of role perceptions on the relations between each of the two motivational constructs and knowledge sharing, paying particular attention to the affordances of the enabling information technology. An analysis of survey data from a wiki-based organizational encyclopedia in a large, multinational firm reveals that when contributors' motivation is externally driven, they are more likely to share knowledge if this activity is viewed as in-role behavior. However, when contributors' motivation is internally driven, they are more likely to participate in knowledge sharing when this activity is viewed as extra-role behavior. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Knowledge withholding in online knowledge spaces: Social deviance behavior and secondary control perspective

“…Furthermore, entering all the moderating effects simultaneously in a single step can help control the Type I error (Frazier, Tix, & Barron, 2004). In this regard, this approach has been widely employed in recent studies (for example, Ali, Musawir, & Ali, 2018;Arazy, Gellatly, Brainin, & Nov, 2016;Chua & Banerjee, 2015;Hong, Lee, & Suh, 2017;Kobsa, Cho, & Knijnenburg, 2016;Venkatesh, Thong, & Xu, 2012). To evaluate the potential confounding effects induced by simultaneously considering multiple moderating effects, this study further included a three-way interaction effect among independent variables and the moderator in the model.…”

When Wiki Technology Meets Corporate Knowledge Management Routines: A Sociomateriality Perspective

“…Most past KM projects were initiated top-down and driven by management, creating a rigid centrally controlled KM structure that often exhibited poor incentives for sharing and reuse of knowledge [1,3,[5][6][7][8]. In these traditional organizational IT-mediated work processes (and particularly systems that support collaboration around knowledge), work was structured in such a way that each team member was able to perform only the tasks for which he or she were responsible, such that there was a distinction between content creation, editing, curation, and administrative tasks.…”

“…Inspired by the open-source software development [9] and later Wikipedia [10,11], this co-creation and peer-based production over the Internet offered an alternative model of KM that emphasized principles such as open access and community governance [12]. When used within organizational settings, wikis remove many of these workflow restrictions, such that any wiki writer is automatically an editor and organizer [1,8,13,14]. In addition, wikis track versions of the knowledge base, and this historical data is available to all participants [14].…”

“…To date, most studies on the adoption of wikis in organizations have focused on the effects of intra-organizational factors (e.g., the role of intrinsic rewards such as respect, improved status and reputation [16]; role perceptions as a moderator of autonomous and controlled motivation [8] on the wiki adoption process. By contrast, the current study, acknowledging the importance of employees' prior experiences with this technology, seeks to explore the impact of factors external to the organization.…”

“…Our study of the process of adopting wiki for KM purposes within an IT organization investigates users' responses to the inherent tension between wiki affordances and traditional KM practices. We focus our attention on one specific wiki application: the development of an encyclopedia of organizational knowledge [8,17,18]. Using the theoretical lens of sociomateriality enabled us to focus on these tensions, examining the manner in which organizational KM routines and the new wiki technology relate to one another.…”