Using ERG Theory as a Lens to Understand the Sharing of Academic Tacit Knowledge

Abstract

This chapter provides a direct view of the higher education environment in a transition economy. It reports research findings on barriers to sharing knowledge among Vietnamese academic and managerial colleagues, focusing on three factors: time, capital, and management capacity. It draws on data from focus groups and from in-depth interviews of Vietnamese members of faculty from six major universities. A key finding of this study is that work-overload leaves little time for collaborative research. Together with insufficient English skills and bureaucratic management, it contributes to measurable levels of cheating and corruption in education that in turn lead to low quality and quantity of international academic publications and of patents. This finding indicates that there is a strong link with both Existence, Relatedness, and Growth (ERG) theory and Maslow's theory of need with both the quality and quantity of international publications produced by Vietnamese academics.