Trust, knowledge sharing and organizational commitment in SMEs

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to extend the knowledge on the underlying relation between trust, knowledge sharing (KS) and organizational commitment (OC) in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), by testing the mediator role of KS between trust and OC dimensions. Design/methodology/approach The paper addresses a sample of 582 top exporting Portuguese SMEs and it tests an original model using structural equation modeling following a partial least square approach. Findings Results show that trust positively and significantly influences KS and affective and normative OCs. KS partially mediates the relation between trust and affective OC. Research limitations/implications This study contributes to both the knowledge management and human resource development literatures, showing the relationship between variables from both bodies of literature. Some limitations apply, the study uses cross-sectional data that limit the conclusions about causality and some restrictions on the generalization of the results also apply due to the used sample. Practical implications Results show the importance of encouraging a trustful environment in SMEs on behalf of KS and OC dimensions. Human resource managers could profit from stimulating KS among employees that results in affective OC. Originality/value Findings show the relevancy of trust in SMEs and the role of KS that contributes to OC.

“I Can’t Help at Work! My Family Is Driving Me Crazy!” How Family-to-Work Conflict Diminishes Change-Oriented Citizenship Behaviors and How Key Resources Disrupt This Link

“…Higher quality peer communication, resulting from informal and trustworthy relationships (De Clercq et al, 2015), can grant employees critical insights into ways to cope with the hardships of family-to-work conflict and enable them to combine their regular job duties with extra-role activities that change the status quo. These positive relational features also might generate positive perceptions about their organizational functioning in general (Bouckenooghe et al, 2014; Curado & Vieira, 2019; Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998), so they feel more motivated to devote themselves to improving the current organizational situation through their voluntary activities.…”

“…These effects also might stem from a motivation-related effect. Employees who enjoy trust-based relationships with their colleagues tend to develop positive feelings about their organizational functioning and the employing organization in general (Curado & Vieira, 2019; Ozmen, 2019), because their personal well-being does not seem threatened by any self-serving or egoistic tendencies among others. Such positive beliefs then may counter employees’ desire to preserve their valuable energy resources, even when they feel preoccupied with family-related issues (Hobfoll, 2001; Quinn et al, 2012).…”

Enablers of Patient Knowledge Empowerment for Self-Management of Chronic Disease: An Integrative Review

“…The process of knowledge sharing is the transfer of knowledge to another individual as needed for proper decision-making [51]. It is a two-way process patients communicate through health technology tools with healthcare professionals and other patients, provide knowledge about their disease, and receive the response they need, thus expressing knowledge and combining it to make a specific health-related decision [18,74].…”

“…Interpersonal trust between members of an organization is the basis of their relationship, creating an opportunity for socialization [83] and a positive effect on knowledge sharing, as members of an organization tend to share knowledge only with those they trust [17,51]. A higher level of trust creates stronger relationships not only between members of the organization but also between members of the organization and the organization [18]. The positive relationship of the members of the organization with the organization is expressed by their commitment to the organization, which in the organizational culture perspective is defined as the emotional attachment of the organization members to the organization and identification with the organization's values, which leads to a member feeling responsibility to help the organization to achieve its goals [18] empowering their self-efficacy and dedicating themselves to the task [84].…”

“…According to Rissel (1996) provisions on continuum empowerment, it can be argued that having empowered patients through mediating structures, patient empowerment evolves from the field of psychological empowerment to the field of community Qualitative analysis of the research revealed that patient empowerment evolves through three levels of empowerment, in which the patient becomes increasingly empowered to use their knowledge in everyday decisions to pursue not only their own but also community health behaviors [14,18,51,60,74,90,91].…”