Journal
of
Global InformatIon manaGement
April-June 2011, Vol. 19, No. 2
Table of Contents
Special Issue on Knowledge Management in a Local-Global Context
Guest Editor: Samuel K.W. Chu, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Patrick Y.K. Chau, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Research Articles
1
Contextual Factors, Knowledge Processes and Performance in Global Sourcing of IT
Services: An Investigation in China
Rong Du, Xidian University, China
Shizhong Ai, Xidian University, China
Pamela Abbot, Brunel University, UK
Yingqin Zheng, De Montfort University, UK
27 Understanding Ofshore Outsourcing Knowledge Transfer Between Japanese
Clients and Vietnamese Service Providers
Nguyen Thu Huong, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Japan
Umemoto Katsuhiro, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Japan
Dam Hieu Chi, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Japan
45 Factors Afecting Usage of Information Technology in Support of Knowledge
Sharing: A Multiple Case Study of Service Organizations in Hong Kong
Ngai-Keung Chow, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
67 Inluence of Knowledge Management Infrastructure on Innovative Business
Processes and Market-Interrelationship Performance: An Empirical Study of
Hospitals in Taiwan
Wen-Ting Lee, National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan
Shin-Yuan Hung, National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan
Patrick Y. K. Chau, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Journal of Global Information Management, 19(2), 45-66, April-June 2011 45
Factors Affecting Usage of
Information Technology in
Support of Knowledge Sharing:
A Multiple Case Study of Service
Organizations in Hong Kong
Ngai-Keung Chow, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
ABSTRACT
This study explores key factors affecting the usage of information technology (IT) tools in support of knowledge
sharing in service organizations in Hong Kong. In a case study of ive irms, the usage of IT tools is inluenced
by an array of factors acting as enablers, barriers, and motivators. The indings support extant theories on
knowledge management (KM). This research discovers relationships between multiple factors and the usage
of IT tools for knowledge sharing at various hierarchical levels. Operational factors like perceived usefulness,
perceived ease of use, staff capability, and nature of work induce higher usage of IT for knowledge sharing.
These indings and related analyses have managerial implications for irms engaging in service business.
Keywords:
Barrier, Culture, Enablers, Information Technology Usage, Knowledge Sharing, Motivator,
Organization Hierarchy, Resources, Service Organizations
INTRODUCTION
Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region
of the People’s Republic of China, is a free
economy with service industries as the main
pillar, covering sectors like finance, trading,
property development, IT and telecommunications, tourism and logistics. Hong Kong
serves as a “leading gateway into China” with
growing and deepening economic ties with the
Mainland (Congressional Research Service,
2007). A leading business hub in Asia, Hong
Kong is also the third global financial centre
according to Chen (2010).
With the widespread use of the Internet
and telecommunication technologies comes a
whole new age of globalization and levels the
playing field as never before (Friedman, 2005).
Hong Kong has to widen its economic base and
to speed up the development of a knowledgebased economy. Firms in Hong Kong have to
explore ways to enhance competitive edge in
doing business, including the need to strengthen
organizational capabilities and staff competency
in utilizing IT in knowledge sharing.
DOI: 10.4018/jgim.2011040103
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46 Journal of Global Information Management, 19(2), 45-66, April-June 2011
Service organizations employ a relatively
large proportion of knowledge workers than
other types of organizations. Know-how held
by individuals in service organizations is an intangible but essential part of the service process
and could become a competitive advantage; it
is therefore desirable for knowledge to be replicated and shared within a firm, in particular for
service organizations with comparatively more
knowledge workers, which seek opportunities
for growth (Johnston & Clark, 2008). As service
organizations form a core part of the Hong Kong
economy, it is necessary to know how local
service organizations are positioned in the use
of IT in support of knowledge sharing and how
they can create value to stay competitive in a
dynamic and customer-oriented environment.
Literature on KM shows that social, cultural
and operational factors affect the use of IT for
knowledge sharing. However, there is little
research on the interplay of these factors, the
relative impact of each of the factors and how
they affect the different hierarchical levels in
an organization. Given the practical concerns
highlighted in the above paragraphs, it is imperative to identify the missing links.
This paper examines KM from the resourcebased perspective and the use of IT in a KM
context. Research questions focus on cultural
and operational factors and their impact on the
usage of IT in support of knowledge sharing
within firms. Findings of the case study are
analyzed and evaluated against insights gained
from extant literature. This study casts light
on how to better utilize IT tools in support of
knowledge sharing when managing businesses
in Hong Kong.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Knowledge as a Resource
to Increase Competitive
Edge of Firms
Differential firm performance is attributed to
variance in resource endowment (Penrose,
1959). According to Resource-Based View, a
firm achieves competitive advantage with its
unique resource (Barney, 1991). Knowledge
is regarded as the most significant resource of
a firm (Alavi & Leidner, 2001). The ability to
integrate the knowledge of firm’s employees
is a distinctive capability (Grant, 1996) and
a dynamic resource (Spender, 1996), thus
improving firm performance and enhancing
its competitive advantage (Bogner & Bansal,
2007; Connell, 2004; Gold et al., 2001; Kogut
& Zander, 1992; Sharkie, 2003; Zack, 1999).
Explicit knowledge is “knowing what” that
is codified and can easily be communicated,
while tacit knowledge refers to “knowing how”
in a subject matter which can only be revealed
through application (Grant, 1996). Knowledge
is created through dynamic interactions among
individuals in the form of socialization, combination, externalization and internalization
(Nonaka, 1994). Exchange of information may
also generate knowledge (Nahapiet & Ghoshal,
1998). Information is converted to knowledge
once it is processed in the mind of individuals
(Alavi & Leidner, 2001).
Effectiveness of IT for KM
KM is defined as a means to acquire, organize,
sustain, apply, share and renew an organization’s
knowledge with a view to enhancing performance and creating value (Davenport & Prusak,
1998). An effective KM strategy to out-compete
rivals is to integrate knowledge from individuals at the middle and junior management level
to bring about innovations in technology and/
or strategies for products and services (Grant,
1996; Sharkie, 2003; Zack, 1999).
IT is an important tool in KM, as information systems (IS) can be used to synthesize
and facilitate KM within a firm and the wider
market (Alavi & Leidner, 2001). Employees
can enter both tacit and explicit knowledge in
knowledge platforms such as “Lotus Notes”
and knowledge repositories (Busch, 2008;
Bennett & Gabriel, 1999). Zack (1999) finds
that companies using conferencing systems
with electronically based repositories are able
to collect knowledge from presentation slides,
comments and observations, trade shows and
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Journal of Global Information Management, 19(2), 45-66, April-June 2011 47
social interactions. According to Bush and
Tiwana (2005, p. 70), tacit knowledge may be
documented and kept in a knowledge repository, which is termed “a people-to-documents
model”; whereas tacit knowledge that cannot be
easily codified may be “shared through hyperlinks, pointers, multimedia and conversations”
in a collaborative knowledge network, which is
termed “a people-to-people model”.
In building an IS for KM, management
needs to make knowledge visible, build
knowledge-intensive culture and establish KM
infrastructure (Davenport et al., 1998; Grant,
1996), with a focus not only on technical systems per se, but also on how they can facilitate
work relationships and culture (Davenport et
al., 1998; He et al., 2009).
How far can IT as a tool in KM achieve
the intended objectives? Scholars have different findings and views on the effectiveness of
IT for KM.
According to DeLone and McLean’s Information Success Model (1992), use of IT is
a measure of IS success, but the actual use only
makes sense for voluntary or discretionary users;
high usage of IT would lead to improvement of
performance of individual employees and the
corporation as a whole, hence IS success and
effectiveness. Based on such model, Bajaj and
Nidumolu (1998) find that perceived ease of
use determines IT usage; Saeed and AbdinnourHelm (2008) state that information quality
and system integration influence perceived
IS usefulness which will then drive IS usage.
Malhotra and Majchrzak (2004, p. 75)
demonstrate that “far-flung teams” in large
firms can share knowledge with the use of team
collaborative software, electronic discussion
forum, instant messaging, synchronous application sharing and electronic whiteboards. Coff et
al. (2006) illustrate that tacit knowledge, such
as scarce expertise in surgical operations can be
shared with the use of IT for remote monitoring
and videoconference.
In choosing IT tools for knowledge sharing,
Mohamed et al. (2006) suggest that the tools
should be able to incorporate an organization’s
socio-cultural contexts, or else the codified
knowledge would not be meaningful to readers.
Hislop (2002) points out that as knowledge
has tacit and explicit components which are
subjective, socially constructed and embedded
in organizational contexts, what IT can do at
most is to facilitate knowledge sharing, but
ultimately all depends on people’s motivation
in the use of IT and their ability in knowledge
assimilation.
As such, this study focuses on voluntary
IT usage for effective knowledge sharing in
service organizations in Hong Kong.
Use of IT in Support of KM
in Service Organizations
So far, scholars have identified that IT tools like
videoconferencing, email, telephone, company
databases, collaborative knowledge networks
and knowledge repositories are popular choices
in service companies for knowledge sharing
among staff.
According to Bennett and Gabriel’s (1999)
survey with heads of large marketing departments in five different sectors, including retailing and financial services, the use of intranet,
videoconferencing, company encyclopedia
and electronic devices such as “Lotus Notes”
for knowledge sharing are popular in the UK.
Similar technologies are also reported in KMS
development in US (Alavi & Leidner, 2001;
Malhotra & Majchrzak, 2004).Knowledge about customers kept by sales
and / or service agents is often tacit and not
well-organized (Davenport & Klahr, 1998).
In the UK and USA, staff uses collaborative
knowledge networks like Lotus Notes to capture
tacit knowledge like experience and insights
generated from projects for sharing (Bennett &
Gabriel, 1999; Busch, 2008; Bush & Tiwana,
2005; Davenport & Klahr, 1998).
The same mechanism applies to organizations with branches scattered in different countries and places (Malhotra & Majchrzak, 2004).
According to Moore and Birkinshaw (1998),
global service firms build centres of excellence,
which comprise leading experts in certain fields,
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48 Journal of Global Information Management, 19(2), 45-66, April-June 2011
and connect individuals from multiple locations
by means of Intranet, groupware and conferencing tools, with a view to tapping and sharing tacit
knowledge of strategic importance to the firm,
and to enhancing organizational capabilities
to maintain the company’s competitive edge.
The above research findings relate to service organizations in developed economies in
the West. With ample business opportunities in
Asia, and with Hong Kong as a leading business hub in the Region, it is time to examine
the functioning of service organizations, which
form a main pillar of the Hong Kong’s economy.
As there has not been any research in this area,
the current study explores whether there is any
prevalent use of IT for knowledge sharing in
service organizations in Hong Kong.
Factors Affecting the Use of
IT in Support of Knowledge
Sharing Within Firms
Among factors affecting the success of IS,
national culture, economic structure, political
/ legal environment and technological status
are the keys (Watson et al., 1997). In terms of
these dimensions, Hong Kong can be considered a developed economy similar to US, UK,
Europe and Australia, but with different cultural
heritage, social norms and work practices. With
more than a decade after reunification with
China, Hong Kong enjoys political stability and
economic prosperity, and continues to be on par
with most developed countries in, inter alia,
maintaining a well-established IT infrastructure
with easy access to IT at work, i.e. a high level
of IS maturity. Yet, in view of the special mix
of Chinese and Western culture in Hong Kong,
Western theories cannot be generalized and
separate collection and analysis of evidence is
required. The following highlights key factors’
impact based on extant research findings.
Impact of National Culture
In Hofstede’s (1980, 1994) study on employees
and managers in 64 different national subsidiar-
ies of IBM Corporation, Hong Kong is rated low
in uncertainty avoidance and high in collectivism. To Hall and Hall (1990), in a high-context
culture (e.g. Chinese), most communication is
tacit instead of explicitly recorded. Bhagat et al.
(2002, p. 210) posit that people in individualist
culture prefer information that is codified and
communicated to all; whereas those in collectivist cultures prefer tacit knowledge and
communicate only with in-group members.
According to Fu et al. (2007), many Hong
Kong managers are “biculturals” in the sense
that their ways of thinking and behaviours
are influenced by both Chinese and Western
cultural values.
Cultural factors affecting knowledge sharing via IT tools among Chinese employees
include uncertainty avoidance (Downing et
al., 2003; Hasan & Ditsa, 1999; Johns et al.,
2002; Kambayashi & Scarborough, 2001;
Straub, 1994; Yoo & Torrey, 2002), collectivism (Ardichvili et al., 2006; Chow et al., 2000;
Gamble & Gibson, 1999; Hasan & Ditsa, 1999;
Hutchings & Michailova, 2004; Hwang et al.,
2003; Kurman, 2003; Yao et al., 2007) and
context (Calhoun et al., 2002; Hasan & Ditsa,
1999; Mehta et al., 2006).
As Hong Kong is a society where East
meets West and which undergoes rapid socioeconomic changes, there is a need to ascertain
how far the above aspects of national culture
influence local Chinese employees in the use
of IT for knowledge sharing, and which factors
exert more influence on their work behaviours.
Impact of Corporate Culture
Corporate culture refers to norms, shared
values and attitudes of members in a corporation. Organizational culture consists of six
components: teamwork, morale, supervision,
involvement, information flow and meetings
(Glaser & Zamanou, 1987). Based on O’Reilly
et al.’s (1991) Organizational Cultural Profile,
knowledge-related values like “people-oriented”, “team-oriented”, “sharing information
freely” and “achievement orientation” have
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Journal of Global Information Management, 19(2), 45-66, April-June 2011 49
a positive correlation with IT implementation
(Harper & Utley, 2001; Jarvenpaa & Staples,
2001). Without a prior cognition on the collaborative nature on groupware, Orlikowski (1992)
found that the rollout of groupware without the
incentives or the norms for sharing expertise
would not induce collaboration.
Corporate culture also comprises management orientation, which refers to management’s
assumptions or beliefs (Keegan & Green,
2008). Pan and Scarbrough (1999) find out that
management mindset and leadership critically
facilitate KM practice in Buckman Laboratories. According to Alavi and Leidner (2006),
it is the tension among competing dominant
organizational values – expert recognition,
adherence to procedures, innovativeness, collaboration and autonomy that leads to different
outcomes of KM use.
So far there is little research on the impact of corporate culture in the use of IT for
knowledge sharing. Besides, literature to date
does not touch on the importance of corporate
culture relative to other factors in influencing
the use of IT for knowledge sharing.
Impact of Perceived Usefulness
and Ease of Use
Davis (1989, p. 320) defines perceived usefulness as “the degree to which a person believes
that using a particular system would enhance
his or her job performance.” He also defines
perceived ease of use as “the degree to which
a person believes that using a particular system
would be free of effort.” Bajaj and Nidumolu
(1998) find that as long as users perceive that
IS is easy to use, they would be ready to use
the tool. Similarly, perceived usefulness of IS
induces usage (Saeed & Abdinnour-Helm, 2008;
Seddon & Kiew, 1996). Thus there is a strong
link between IS usage and perceived usefulness
and ease of use of IT tools.
However, there is little empirical evidence
of any correlation between IS usage and the use
of IT tools for the purpose of knowledge sharing.
Impact of Staff Capability
and Nature of Work
According to Townsend and Cairns (2003), capability refers to ability (i.e. current competence
plus potential), self-efficacy (belief in one’s own
capability) and values (such as trust, valuing
diversity or global sensitivity). In a business
context, Stephenson (1992) defines individual
capability as an integration of knowledge, skills,
personal qualities and an understanding of the
dynamic nature of the business.
Davenport (2005) defines the nature of
work in terms of its complexity (varying from
routine to requiring interpretation/judgment)
and the level of interdependence (varying
from individual actions to collaboration in
groups). Peterson et al. (2001) mention four
dimensions of the structure of work, namely
information input, mental processes, work
output and interactions with others. Based
on these dimensions, Lee (2007) examines
knowledge work performed in a bank; and
finds that middle-level staff tends to have more
interactions with others, which is in line with
the insights of Nonaka (1994).
While these studies touch upon the nature
of work varies among staff at different ranks,
they do not examine how IT usage varies at
different hierarchical levels and among staff
with different competency levels, and how
such usage affects knowledge sharing in a
service organization. This research attempts
to fill the gap.
Impact of Firm Size
Fabiani et al. (2005) point out that large firms
generally have an edge in the adoption of IT. On
the other hand, SMEs usually lack funding to
invest in KM development (McAdam & Reid,
2001); thus, the use of IT for KM is not high
in their priority list (Wong & Aspinwall, 2005).
However, because of SMEs’ preference for social construction of knowledge and their need
for external knowledge and inter-organizational
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50 Journal of Global Information Management, 19(2), 45-66, April-June 2011
Table 1. Analytical framework for evaluating firms’ usage of IT in support of knowledge sharing
KM
Processes
KM
Sub-Processes
Illustrative KM
Mechanisms
Illustrative IT in support of KM
Knowledge
sharing
Socialization (Nonaka, 1994)
e.g., Employee rotation across departments,
conferences, brainstorming,
projects
e.g., Telephone, audio / video-conferencing,
electronic discussion groups, email
Exchange (Nahapiet & Ghoshal,
1998)
e.g., Memos, manuals, letters, presentations
e.g., Internet / Intranet / Extranet, team collaboration tools, information repositories,
best practices and lesson learned databases
knowledge transfer (Chen et al., 2006; Desouza
& Awazu, 2006), these organizations are likely
to consider IT tools which can support external
relations with a lower transaction cost (Fabiani
et al., 2005).
It is not clear whether similar findings
can be applied to service organizations in
Hong Kong.
RESEARCH GAP AND
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Even though it is widely accepted that knowledge is a resource which can increase a firm’s
competitive advantage, there is no extensive
research on whether and how an array of factors
affects the usage of IT in support of knowledge
sharing among different levels within service
organizations in Hong Kong.
To address the above research gaps, this
study raises three key questions: (1) What are
the key factors influencing the usage patterns of
IT in support of knowledge sharing in service
organizations in Hong Kong, and what is the
relative impact of each factor? (2) How do these
factors affect the usage of IT tools at different
levels of the organizational hierarchy? (3) To
what extent does this study validate past findings and extant theories?
In studying the usage of IT for knowledge
sharing as a KM process, this research makes
reference to Becerra-Fernandez et al.’s (2004)
analytical framework shown in Table 1. Such
framework incorporates knowledge creation
models from different cultural backgrounds, viz
Nonaka’s knowledge creation model which is
largely embedded in traditional Japanese values
and management practices (Glisby & Holden,
2003), as well as Nahapiet and Ghoshal’s (1998)
concept of knowledge creation. Since no single
knowledge creation model can be applied across
different cultures, it might be useful to adopt
Becerra-Fernandez et al.’s (2004) framework,
with a view to enhancing explanatory power in
the context of Hong Kong with a mix of Western
and Chinese styles of management.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
AND DESIGN
Case Study
Case study approach is most appropriate for
studying a phenomenon which is broad and
complex (Gummesson, 2000; Yin, 2003). This
study is exploratory in nature, so it is necessary
to gather insights from diversified perspectives.
As this research may contain a priori identifiable
patterns of relationships between independent
and dependent variables, a positivist approach
is adopted.
The service industry is selected for this
research as it forms a major pillar of the Hong
Kong economy. IT, finance and telecommunication service as leading sectors in using IT as
knowledge enabler (Shapira et al., 2006), together with property development, a key sector
of the local economy are chosen for study. The
selected firms are medium and large, both local
and multinational corporations (MNC). Their
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Journal of Global Information Management, 19(2), 45-66, April-June 2011 51
Table 2. Summary of profiles of case firms
Company
Number of
employees
Sector
Local / MNC
Organization
structure
Hierarchical
levels2
A
20,000
Telecom & IT
MNC
Centralized with centres of excellence1
4
B
100,000
Finance
MNC
Centralized with centres of excellence
4
C
20,000
Property
Development
Local with presence in
China
Centralized
4
D
2000
IT
Local with presence in
S.E Asia and China
Centralized with centres of excellence
3
E
500
Telecom & IT
Local with presence in
S.E. Asia and China
Centralized with centres of excellence
4
1. referring to units with leading experts in certain fields and which are called upon to help other units in an organization as and when required
2. referring to the levels between the interviewees’ ranking and that of frontline staff, in connection with their modes
of communication
branch offices are geographically dispersed,
and rely on IT tools in communication. Table
2 gives profiles of the case firms used.
Data Collection and Analysis
In this research, a combination of structured
surveys, interviews, observations and archival
sources is used to collect data. The unit of analysis is an organization which consists of various
hierarchical layers, viz senior level (e.g. senior
executives and senior managers), middle level
(professional staff and middle managers) and
junior level (junior/frontline staff). At least one
senior executive and one middle or professional
staff in each firm are selected for interviews in
this study as recommended by Perry (1998).
Interviewees’ tenures range from three to twenty
years. Senior executives / senior managers in
this study include chief executive officer, chief
information officer, senior vice president and
marketing director, whereas middle managers
/ professional staff include training manager,
sales and marketing manager and IT consultant.
Prior to the interviews, structured surveys were conducted. All interviewees were
requested to fill in information about the type
of IT tools being used, their usage at different
organizational layers, under what circumstances
they are used, reasons to use and factors affecting usage pattern of IT tools. Interviewees were
asked to indicate their usage of each IT tool on
a seven-level scale varying from 1 = no or very
low usage to 7 = very high usage. Individual
scores for senior executives, middle managers
and junior staff in each case firm were summed
up to reflect the overall usage for each IT tool
across all five case firms (see Figure 1 for the
most popular IT tools used).
The interviews were held during September to December 2007. Interviewees were asked
open-end questions, followed by more focused,
semi-structured questions and probing questions
for one to two hours. Issues were subsequently
clarified by phone or by email.
The questions were intended to (1) explore
what factors account for the usage patterns of IT
in support of knowledge sharing; (2) understand
how these factors affect the usage patterns of
IT in support of knowledge sharing; and (3)
assess the relative impact of these factors in
affecting the usage patterns of IT in support
of knowledge sharing (see Figure 1). During
each interview, direct observation of the use of
IT tools in meetings and other office activities
was made, which served as evidence to support
what the interviewees stated. This case study
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52 Journal of Global Information Management, 19(2), 45-66, April-June 2011
Figure 1. IT usage patterns in support of knowledge sharing in five case firms (A to E)
also made use of archival sources including
annual reports and press releases.
Data analysis follows Yin’s (2003) strategy
of case description and pattern matching logic
– to identify patterns (i.e. factors affecting IT
usage for knowledge sharing) and to account
for such phenomena in each firm (i.e. to build
internal validity); to compare patterns in different firms, to account for similarities and differences in various dimensions, and to generalize
findings across firms (i.e. to achieve external
validity). Findings are categorized (Miles &
Huberman, 1994) according to IT usage patterns
and the importance of each factor.
Company B is a global leader in financial and
insurance services with headquarters in North
America. Company C is a large property conglomerate listed in Hong Kong with business
in China. Company D is a medium-sized IT
service provider with headquarters in Hong
Kong, and business stronghold in China and
South East Asia. Company E is a locally listed
medium-sized firm in IT and telecommunication
with regional coverage. Given keen competition in all these industries, all five case firms’
strategies include keeping abreast of market
developments, sharing knowledge and devising
innovative solutions to meet customer needs.
CASE ANALYSIS
Knowledge Creation from
the Use of IT tools
Profile of Case Companies and
Need for Knowledge Sharing
Company A is an international IT and telecommunication corporation listed in Hong Kong.
All interviewees indicate that they and their
colleagues use a variety of IT tools to share information and knowledge in their organizations,
similar to the findings in US and UK (Alavi &
Leidner, 2001; Bennett & Gabriel, 1999). They
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Journal of Global Information Management, 19(2), 45-66, April-June 2011 53
also recognize the importance of knowledge in
sustaining an organization’s competitiveness,
but admit that they do not have a formal KM
system to capture tacit knowledge and to share
new knowledge.
In Company A, all interviewees consider
that IT tools can facilitate information transfer
through staff’s involvement in communication
loops of telephone calls and emails, but it is at
the discretion of individual staff member to
assimilate learning and construct knowledge.
The organization does not have any proactive
means to promote knowledge creation or to
monitor the learning outcome. Though there is
a database updated by a subject matter expert,
it cannot effectively tap tacit knowledge in the
minds of project team members.
In Company B, IT tools facilitate information transfer through (1) staff’s involvement in
communication loops and database access for
daily business activities and (2) teleconferences
for regional business reviews. Again, it is up
to individual staff to pick up what they want to
learn, and staff’s efforts in tapping knowledge
are largely hindered by heavy workload. While
promoting knowledge sharing through the use
of IT, the management does not take deliberate
steps to monitor the learning outcome.
In Company C, the management actively
employs IT tools to keep track of business
records, and some staff take the initiative to
tap information from the data warehouse and
to generate knowledge during such process.
As for Company D, interviewees express
that staff mainly communicate face-to-face, by
phone and email and think that it is necessary
to tap good business practices and store them
in a repository. They agree that the extent of
knowledge creation depends on the initiative
of individual staff.
With regard to Company E, interviewees
mention that subject matter experts codify useful
insights generated from business projects and
disseminate them through the intranet, thus
facilitating staff’s work and enhancing their
problem-solving skills.
In all five firms, there is information sharing with the use of IT tools as a daily routine,
and with subject matter experts codifying
tacit knowledge and keeping track of business
records in database for sharing. However, individual project team members lack the initiative
to proactively codify and share tacit knowledge,
unlike their Western counterparts (Bennett &
Gabriel, 1999; Busch, 2008; Bush & Tiwana,
2005; Davenport et al., 1998). It is also uncertain
whether and how far knowledge is created and
assimilated in the sharing process. This echoes
Hislop’s (2002) view that IT could only facilitate
knowledge sharing, but it is up to individual in
knowledge assimilation.
Usage of IT Tools at Different
Hierarchical Levels for
Knowledge Sharing
Interviewees in this study consider that appropriate IT tools are essential for speeding up work
progress, improving productivity and sharing
knowledge, and indicate that their use of IT tools
is voluntary. Thus usage is a suitable measure
of IT effectiveness (DeLone & McLean, 1992)
for knowledge sharing for this study.
In all five case firms, telephones/voicemails
and emails are most popular; teleconferences,
intranet, information portal (with access to
information repositories, best practices / lesson learned databases) and videoconferences
are not used heavily; and electronic discussion
groups and team collaboration are seldom used.
Nonetheless, at different hierarchical levels,
there are various patterns of usage of specific
IT tools (see Figure 1). IT usage patterns vary
among senior, middle and junior staff, because
they have diverse task requirements, possess
different experience and language proficiency,
and display different mentalities and attitudes.
For senior managers in this study, they
prefer face-to-face meetings in sharing business insights, discussing strategic plans and
negotiating with business partners. However, if
they find it difficult to line up meetings because
of busy schedules, they would resort to emails
and tele/videoconferences. By virtue of their
competency, senior managers can freely choose
the most appropriate IT tool. With regard to
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54 Journal of Global Information Management, 19(2), 45-66, April-June 2011
alternative IT tools, online sharing and information portals are not prevalent. In Companies A to
D, senior managers rarely use online discussion
because business discussion may be sensitive
and should not be posted online; some matters
are controversial and staff prefer not to keep
any written records, lest they would be held
accountable. Only in Company E is online
discussion often used where circumstances
allow, mainly because of encouragement from
the CEO. As for information portal, it is used
by the senior management in Company C only,
probably because the nature of work involves
highly meticulous planning in construction
projects and stringent risk management.
As for middle management, professional
staff and knowledge workers, they also use
emails and telephones frequently. They use
information portal more often than their seniors
to handle customers’ requests, but seldom use
videoconferences and online discussion tools,
mainly because of the different nature of their
work. They normally implement action plans
at the operational level; and it would be less
costly and more convenient to carry out their
tasks by means of telephones and emails instead
of videoconferencing. Besides, some middlelevel staff may not want to take part in open
discussions in video/teleconferences, because
of language proficiency and/or their tendency
to avoid making commitments and decisions
on-the-spot. Besides, their business requires
fast response, and on-line discussion does not
help them solve day-to-day operational problems. Under tight work schedules, most staff
think that it is time consuming and difficult to
translate ideas into writing in online discussion.
With regard to junior staff, they sort out matters with colleagues and customers directly by
means of face-to-face meetings and telephones,
the most convenient means of communication
for them. Their nature of work seldom calls
for other IT tools for knowledge sharing, and
they are not well-equipped to use them. The
usage of intranet in one firm is relatively high,
because the CEO advocates it. This is however
an exception rather than a norm.
Factors Affecting IT Usage
in Service Organizations
in Hong Kong
The following is an analysis of major factors
affecting IT usage in support of knowledge
sharing in five service organizations in Hong
Kong. They are grouped into two categories, viz
(1) operational level – practical concerns such
as nature of work, staff capability, perceived
usefulness and ease of use and (2) cultural at
the national and corporate level, as shown in
Figure 2. This section also validates findings
from past research and extant theories.
Dominant Role of Perceived
Usefulness and Ease of Use on IT
Usage for Knowledge Sharing
In line with the findings of Bajaj and Nidumolu
(1998), Saeed and Abdinnour-Helm (2008) and
Seddon and Kiew (1996), there is empirical
evidence in this study that perceived usefulness and ease of use have a strong impact on
the usage of IT tools for sharing of information
and knowledge across all organizational levels,
though its popularity also hinges on other factors
like nature of work and staff capability.
In all case firms, IT tools are employed
as long as they are perceived as useful for
designated purposes; for instance emails for
confirming understanding and verbal agreement, telephones for handling urgent matters
and clarifying details, video and teleconferencing tools for open discussions among multiple
parties, and information portals for providing
updated market information to support decisionmaking.
In all companies under study, emails and
telephones are perceived as the easiest and
fastest ways of conveying simple messages and
gist of discussions. Emails can be accessed at
anywhere anytime. On the other hand, videoconferencing tools are not available in every
branch office; intranet and databases are not
adequately developed in some firms because
of resource constraints; and team collaboration
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Journal of Global Information Management, 19(2), 45-66, April-June 2011 55
Figure 2. Major factors affecting IT usage for knowledge sharing for case firms (A to E)
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56 Journal of Global Information Management, 19(2), 45-66, April-June 2011
software is seldom used in any firm under study
because it is not perceived as convenient.
Where one or two IT tools (e.g. emails
and phones versus team collaboration tools and
electronic discussion tools) can serve similar
purposes and meet particular task requirements
(i.e. cater for the nature of work), staff would
pick one or two (e.g. emails and phones) which
they think is/are most useful and easy to use,
and which they are competent to handle (staff
capability).
Dominant Role of Staff Capability in
IT Usage for Knowledge Sharing
In all case companies, staff capability in terms
of business knowledge and experience, language
ability and computer literacy has a rather strong
influence on staff’s usage of IT tools for sharing
of information and knowledge. Senior managers demonstrate knowledge, skills as well as an
understanding of the dynamic nature of their
business (Townsend & Cairns, 2003). They have
rich experience and a good command of both
spoken and written English, and share views
with ease by whatever means of communication. As for middle managers, their command of
written and spoken English is not as good, and
they often talk face-to-face and on the phone,
followed up by emails. Junior staff who are
less competent talk on the phone in Cantonese
instead of writing emails in English.
There is also evidence in this study that
personal factors like self-efficacy (Bandura,
1986) are at play. Where language proficiency
and computer skills of staff in a firm are high,
as in Companies A and B, there is a greater usage of emails across the board. In Company C,
junior staff at construction sites find it difficult
to use computer and to write in either English or
Chinese, so they prefer talking over the phone.
Unlike enablers like perceived usefulness and
ease of use which induce IT usage (i.e. positive
correlation between their impact and IT usage),
staff capability may both induce and discourage
IT usage, thus its net impact on overall IT usage
may be relatively less.
Dominant Role of Nature of Work on
IT Usage for Knowledge Sharing
For all the case firms under this study, staff is
engaged in work activities cited by Peterson
et al. (2001). For example, senior / middle
managers need to undergo mental processes in
making business decisions. Middle managers /
knowledge workers perform complex / technical activities in different disciplines, and devise
competitive solutions for customers. Staff at all
ranks are involved in interactions with various
working parties. Given the diversified nature of
work of staff at different hierarchical levels in
an organization, they employ various IT tools
to meet their specific task needs. Hence, ample
evidence that nature of work exerts a strong
influence on IT usage for knowledge sharing.
In Company A, most business issues related
to new market rollouts are fluid, so managers
use tele/videoconferences, followed up by
phones and emails. Similarly, for investment
consultants in Company B, their business matters are complicated, so they usually talk either
face-to-face or on the phone, and use emails to
summarize discussions. In Company C, where
complicated professional work involves integration of multiple disciplines, knowledge workers
utilize an array of IT tools like database, phones
and emails, apart from face-to-face discussions.
As business discussion may be sensitive
and controversial, senior managers tend to
avoid expressing their views online. Similar
to staff capability, nature of work may both
induce and discourage IT usage, thus the net
impact of nature of work on overall IT usage
may turn out to be relatively less.
During the course of this study, it is discovered that senior executives devote much time in
socializing with colleagues, business partners
and other industry players by means of face-toface communication as well as IT tools. There
is empirical evidence that the nature of their
work is linked with social relationships, and in
particular strong ties and weak ties (Granovetter, 1983), which in turn affects their use of IT.
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Journal of Global Information Management, 19(2), 45-66, April-June 2011 57
In Granovetter’s (1983) study of social
networks, strong ties (e.g. in-groups, close
friends and family) tend to lock into a clique and
stop ideas from sharing because of the overlap
in contact and information, whereas weak ties
(casual acquaintance) allows sharing of information and insights from new network. With
regard to the sharing of product development
knowhow among different units in a company,
Hansen (1999) find that weak inter-unit ties
only help speed up the sharing of less complex
knowledge; in the case of effective sharing of
complex knowledge, a strong tie between the
two parties is required.
In this research, senior managers have
a mission to build social connections and to
explore new grounds, and so they engage in
face-to-face discussions among multiple parties,
including strong and weak ties, supplemented
by IT tools like conferencing tools and emails.
On the contrary, middle managers / professional staff in all case firms tend to focus on
daily operations. Instead of venturing with new
networks, they tend to rely on strong ties so as
to facilitate heavy exchange of information to
get things done. This is in line with Hansen’s
(1999) findings.
Moderate Impact of Uncertainty
Avoidance (National Culture) on
IT Usage for Knowledge Sharing
This study shows that Chinese middle and junior
managers in Hong Kong generally display uncertainty avoidance – the leaning towards clear
situations (Hofstede, 1980, 1994). Such sharing
propensity affects their choice of IT tools.
Firstly, they like structured situations, do
not like open discussion and tend to hold back
if they feel uncertain. Unless instructed by
supervisors, they refrain from sharing information and views with colleagues especially from
other departments, thus limiting the number of
meetings and usage of emails and telephones.
That is also why they do not use audio or videoconferencing tools which require participants to
be more vocal. Another indication of uncertainty
avoidance is staff’s preference for conventional
IT tools for information and knowledge sharing.
When face-to-face clarification is not viable,
staff uses telephones to confirm understanding
of tacit knowledge, and use emails to exchange
explicit knowledge and to record discussions.
To play safe, they avoid unconventional IT
tools such as electronic discussion forum and
team collaboration software. This explains
why there is higher usage of conventional IT
tools like emails and telephones than other
IT tools. A third indication is that middle and
junior managers use a mix of high-context
(e.g. face-to-face meetings and telephones)
and low-context communication (e.g. frequent
use of business database and consultation with
experts by emails) (Hall & Hall, 1990; Mehta
et al., 2006), in order to ensure data accuracy
and validity of their analysis, and to avoid being challenged.
The combined effect of the above three
kinds of user behaviour is that middle-level
staff who want to clarify matters would often
use a mix of emails, telephones and information
portals, but other middle and junior staff who
do not bother to commit themselves simply
refrain from using IT tools for communication and sharing. As for senior staff in the case
companies, they do not display obvious signs
of uncertainty avoidance; it is inferred that this
factor does not affect their usage of IT tools for
sharing. Hence the impact of uncertainty avoidance on the overall IT usage rate is moderate.
Low Impact of Collectivism
(National Culture) on IT Usage
for Knowledge Sharing
This study shows that Chinese middle and junior
managers in Hong Kong tend to be collectivistic
rather than individualistic in their propensity in
sharing of information and knowledge. That
means they tend to share only with in-group
members, which echoes the findings of Ardichvili et al. (2006) and Ritter and Choi (2000).
As communication among in-group members is
usually sensitive by nature, it is better handled
by phone if face-to-face meetings cannot
be arranged.
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58 Journal of Global Information Management, 19(2), 45-66, April-June 2011
Staff is not keen to use teleconferences or
electronic forums which are meant for more
participants from different departments engaging in open discussions. With the existence of
collectivism, there are perceived competitions
among departments and different in-groups,
which may hinder sharing through teleconversations and emails.
On the other hand, staff assigned to work
in project teams is obliged to share information
and knowledge by means of telephones and use
emails to keep records of discussions. In-group
influence is minimal in project teams. This
shows that factors like nature of work come
into play in inducing IT usage in support of
knowledge sharing.
In a nutshell, with collectivism among
staff, sharing within in-groups is normally by
means of face-to-face chats or telephones at
most, rather than by widespread use of other IT
tools, while voluntary sharing with out-groups
is minimal, hence low overall usage of IT tools
in the case firms.
Little Influence of Corporate Culture
on IT Usage for Knowledge Sharing
In this research, corporate culture only has a
little effect on IT usage for knowledge sharing.
As far as management orientation is concerned, it only has a moderate influence on
staff’s sharing propensity and their choice of
IT tools for knowledge sharing in the five firms
under study, which is contrary to the case study
on Buckman Laboratories. In Companies A,
B and E, senior management prefers a sharing
culture, but individual staff is loyal to their
immediate supervisors only. In Company B,
senior management prefers formal records on
all communications, thus a need to document
the teleconversations by emails to make things
clear. In Company C, management tolerates
junior staff who are less competent in the use
of emails. In Company D, the management do
not insist on knowledge sharing, instead they
develop a database on best business practices
to facilitate it.
As for other aspects of corporate culture,
customer-oriented culture in Company A may
induce IT usage for sharing among middle
and junior staff; and performance culture in
Company B motivates those with achievement
orientation to report to supervisors by various
means of communication. However, sharing
culture in the case firms is confined to senior
managers in close contacts with open-minded
Western colleagues.
Judging from the above, corporate culture
does not exert much influence on the use of IT
for knowledge sharing.
Minimal Impact of Firm Size on IT
Usage for Knowledge Sharing
This study shows that staff in both large and
smaller firms generally prefers to talk face-toface and exhibit similar patterns for usage of
different IT tools (see subtotal for individual
companies in Figure 1). There is little evidence
that firm size has a notable impact on the usage
of IT tools like emails, telephones, teleconferences and intranet.
Firm size has some impact on the usage
of videoconferences in the three largest firms
relative to the two smaller firms, as shown from
Figure 1. However, the usage of videoconferences in these firms is not only because of firm
size per se, but also due to other factors like
nature of work, management orientation, staff
capability and perceived usefulness.
Strong Impact of Motivation on IT
Usage for Knowledge Sharing
In the course of this study, it is discovered
that staff have different motivations behind
their use of IT tools for knowledge sharing in
organizations.
According to Social Capital Theory (Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998, p. 243), knowledge
creation requires social capital which is the
aggregate of “resources embedded within the
network of relationships” in an organization.
Chiu et al. (2006, p.1872) find that different
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Journal of Global Information Management, 19(2), 45-66, April-June 2011 59
facets of social capital – “social interaction
ties”, “trust”, “norm of reciprocity”, “identification”, “shared vision” and “shared language”
motivate individuals in knowledge sharing in
online communities.
According to Social Cognitive Theory
(Bandura, 1986), individuals’ behaviour is a
dynamic and reciprocal interaction of personal
factors including self-efficacy and outcome
expectations. There is empirical evidence for
people to contribute their knowledge in electronic repository if they perceive an increase
in their professional reputations (i.e. outcome
expectation) and think they have the experience
to share (i.e. self-efficacy) (Kankanhalli et al.,
2005; Lin & Huang, 2008; McLure-Wasko &
Faraj, 2005).
Individuals are perceived as calculative
and their sharing is motivated by self-interests
(Connolly & Heminger, 1992). Individuals
share also because they are driven by business
norms and commitment (Kalman et al., 2002).
Jian and Jeffres (2006) consider that employees’
willingness to contribute to shared electronic
database is based on three organizational processes, viz cost-benefits analysis, organizational
identification and collaboration.
There is evidence in this study that staff is
motivated to share because perceived benefits
outweigh potential costs (Ardichvili, 2008; He
& Wei, 2009). Chinese managers share views
because of “intrinsic benefits (knowledge selfefficacy and enjoyment in helping others)” and
“extrinsic benefits (reciprocity and organizational reward)” (He & Wei, 2009; Kankanhalli et
al., 2005). In all case firms, sharing is perceived
to bring about intrinsic benefits like job satisfaction arising from identifying oneself with own
department, feeling happy to represent department, improving colleagues’ work performance
and promoting working relationships; sharing is
also perceived to bring about extrinsic benefits
like strengthening one’s capabilities, meeting
bosses’ expectations in exchange for career
advancement, and enhancing service quality
and the Company’s competitiveness.
The findings prove that multi-disciplinary
collaboration can transcend in-group com-
munication and promote sharing in service
organizations. There is relatively little in-group
influence in project teams, and middle-ranked
staff is ready to share in face-to-face discussions, or by telephones and emails. Project team
members are more willing to contribute their
knowledge if they perceive that it would increase
their reputations, and they have the experience
to share (McLure-Wasko & Faraj, 2005). With
experts coming from a wide spectrum of fields,
multi-disciplinary project teams bring together
“social capital” (Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998)
which benefits all concerned.
Obvious Impact of MacroEnvironment on IT Usage
for Knowledge Sharing
By virtue of Hong Kong’s stable political
environment, free economy, free flow of information, a well-established legal system, and
advanced infrastructure for telecommunication
and transportation, together with its close relationship with the booming economy in China,
there have been lots of economic activities
and business opportunities. However, in view
of keen competition in the global market and
increasingly sophisticated and demanding
customers, firms in different sectors, big and
small alike, face intense pressure.
In order to differentiate from competitors,
senior managers in all case companies agree
that they need to offer innovative solutions.
To address customers’ needs and expectations,
managers in this study spend about 30% to
80% of their time in multi-disciplinary project
meetings, by means of face-to-face discussions,
teleconferencing and emails to share complex
project information.
A Model for Analysing IT Usage
for Knowledge Sharing
Ardichvili (2008) proposes a framework (in
Figure 3) for understanding motivators, barriers
and enablers for knowledge sharing in online
community at workplace. Motivating factors
include utilitarian considerations, value-based
considerations, and a sense of community and
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60 Journal of Global Information Management, 19(2), 45-66, April-June 2011
Figure 3. Ardichvili’s (2008) model for successful online knowledge sharing and learning
belonging. Barriers include interpersonal factors, technology-related factors and cultural
norms. Enablers include supportive culture,
personal trust and availability of suitable tools.
Firstly on motivators (Ardichvili, 2008),
there is evidence in this study that staff share
because of perceived personal benefits and a
sense of belonging. Knowledge self-efficacy,
enjoyment in helping others and promoting
working relationships benefit employees in case
firms emotionally (He & Wei, 2009). To identify themselves with the company (Ardichvili,
2008; Jian & Jeffres, 2006), senior managers
in Company C share wisdom with their protégés and groom them into effective managers.
The competitive business environment in Hong
Kong also poses as a motivator for firms to
foster knowledge sharing among staff so as to
meet customer demands, lest they would lose
out in the market.
Secondly on barriers (Ardichvili, 2008),
there is ample evidence in all case firms that
cultural factors like in-group orientation and
uncertainty avoidance impede knowledge
sharing by means of IT tools especially among
middle and junior staff.
Thirdly on enablers (Ardichvili, 2008),
there is empirical support in this research that
usefulness and ease of use of IT tools (for all
case firms), staff’s ability (for all case firms),
top management’s support (for Company E),
and a corporate culture promoting interactions
(for Company B) facilitate knowledge sharing
in an organization. The macro environment of
Hong Kong is an enabler as well, because the
relatively open Government administration,
transparent legislature, fair judicial system, free
economy and sophisticated IT infrastructure
facilitate knowledge sharing in the community
and with the wider world.
In this study, it is also found that two additional factors, viz staff capability and nature
of work have strong impact on the usage of IT
tools in support of knowledge sharing at various hierarchical levels. Their impact may be
positive or negative.
Staff capability can act as an enabler or
barrier in IT usage for knowledge sharing.
Managers in the case firms clearly display capability – ability, self-efficacy and appropriate
shared values (Townsend & Cairns, 2003); this
induces high usage of IT for knowledge sharing.
On the contrary, staff who are less competent
may refrain from using IT for sharing.
As for nature of work, it can also serve as
an enabler or barrier in IT usage for knowledge
sharing (Davenport, 2005; Peterson et al.,
2001). In all five case firms, where an IT tool
fits staff’s work nature and requirements, its
usage is high; and vice versa.
The above shows that an array of factors
is at play – no one factor, however dominant it
is, can lead to high usage of a specific IT tool.
CONCLUSION
Answers to Research Questions
This study has addressed the three research
questions.
Firstly, an important insight drawn from
this study is that an array of factors conspires
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Journal of Global Information Management, 19(2), 45-66, April-June 2011 61
to influence the usage patterns of IT tools for
knowledge sharing in service organizations
in Hong Kong. This includes (a) operational
factors – perceived usefulness (score: 73), perceived ease of use (score: 68), staff capability
(score: 62) and nature of work (score: 61); and
(b) cultural factors – management orientation
(score: 43), uncertainty avoidance (score: 34)
and collectivism (score: 17), in the order of
their impact on the usage of IT for knowledge
sharing. Key drivers of IT usage are operational
factors. As for other factors, there is little evidence showing that they have definitive influence on the usage of IT tools for knowledge
sharing in service organizations in Hong Kong.
Nonetheless, the impact of each factor cannot
be isolated in practice, as the popularity of an
IT tool is not solely determined by one factor;
other factors also come into play.
Secondly, IT usage patterns of staff at
different organizational ranks may vary. This
may be attributed to different characteristics
of senior, middle and junior staff – who have
diverse task requirements (i.e. nature of work),
possess different experience, language proficiency and communication skills (i.e. staff
capabilities), and display different mentalities
and attitudes (mainly due to staff capabilities,
uncertainty avoidance, collectivism and management orientation).
Thirdly, this study confirms extant theories
and research findings that perceived usefulness
and perceived ease of use (operational factors)
are important in inducing usage of IT. In addition, this study shows that the impact of other
factors is more subtle; in particular, nature of
work and staff capability (operational factors),
collectivism and uncertainty avoidance (cultural
factors) may induce IT usage under certain
circumstances but impede IT usage under other
circumstances.
Limitations of this Study and
Implications for Future Research
Firstly, this study is specific to service organizations in Hong Kong only. Interviewees are
confined to Chinese managers; it is not clear
whether and how far their perceptions and behaviours are similar to those of their Western
counterparts, and whether their interpretations
of junior staff’s views are correct. The findings
should preferably be substantiated by empirical
findings from a wider spectrum of industries in
different countries and interviewing junior staff
as well. Secondly, under the current qualitative
approach, it is difficult to single out one variable and to gauge its impact on other variables
or how it is affected by other variables. Such
approach may best be supplemented by a quantitative study to underpin relationships among
an array of variables. Thirdly, this case study
takes a snapshot of situations in each case firm
instead of conducting a longitudinal study of
how IT usage behaviours related to knowledge
sharing evolve.
Managerial Implications
Judging from the findings of this research, it
is clear that multiple factors affect IT usage
for knowledge sharing. Knowing the relative
impact of each of the factors, managers can
manipulate them to induce more usage of IT
tools among staff, with a view to sharing and
creating knowledge, and to enhancing their
firm’s competitive advantage.
At an early stage, firms may face difficulties because of a lack of staff’s identity with the
firm’s vision and the ability to effect change;
so the management may need to leverage on
external expertise in introducing good business
practices as an interim measure.
In the longer term, firm commitment and
clear steering from the top is essential for bringing about and sustaining a sharing culture. Senior management may line up multi-disciplinary
project teams to transcend in-group communication and to convince staff of the benefits of
sharing of information and knowledge. To this
end, the management should train up staff in
terms of business knowledge and experience,
language ability, computer literacy and communication skills. The management should also
encourage socialization among both strong ties
and weak ties, so as to generate knowledge and
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62 Journal of Global Information Management, 19(2), 45-66, April-June 2011
stimulate ideas among staff. In addition, the
management should provide appropriate IT
tools which match the nature of work of different
staff in the company, and which are perceived to
be useful and easy to use. This would facilitate
codification of tacit knowledge and exchange
of ideas, which reinforce the organizational
capability and gear up for keen competition in
the global market.
Contribution of this Research
Based on Ardichvili’s (2008) model, this study
analyses how multiple factors can influence
IT usage for knowledge sharing at various
hierarchical levels. In particular, it is found
that operational factors like perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, staff capability and
nature of work can induce higher usage of IT
for knowledge sharing. This would hopefully
inspire researchers to conduct further studies
and practitioners to better utilize IT tools for
knowledge sharing in service organizations.
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Ngai-Keung Chow holds a DBA from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He has worked
in IT and telecommunication industry in Australia and Hong Kong for 25 years, specializing in
the development and management of local and global products and services. He is a part-time
lecturer in the School of Continuing and Professional Education in the City University of Hong
Kong and an Executive Committee Member of the Knowledge Management Development Centre
Ltd., Hong Kong.
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