Knowledge sharing amongst information professionals in Bangladesh: A quantitative analysis

Abstract: Effective knowledge sharing is important for the success of any organization. Determining factors that may influence knowledge sharing behavior constitutes an important area of research. There have not been many studies investigating the knowledge sharing behavior of information professionals in the developing world, especially in the context of South Asia. The focus of the larger study is to investigate the factors affecting the knowledge sharing behavior of information professionals in Bangladesh. This paper reports on the study design and the work-in-progress. A research model has been developed to measure the knowledge sharing behavior (KSB), intention to share knowledge (KSI), the motivational factors affecting the desire to share, and attitudes towards specific methods for knowledge sharing. It is hypothesized that the motivational factors and attitude towards methods will affect KSI, which in turn will affect KSB. This paper includes a review of the literature as well as the variables in the research model. Future work will include developing the survey instrument to gather data on the variables, and sending a web-based survey to information professionals in Bangladesh. The study builds on past work on knowledge sharing behavior. The primary contribution is identification of motivational factors (both intrinsic/attitude-based and extrinsic i.e. social or environmental based) that affect the knowledge sharing intention and behavior of information professionals in Bangladesh. It helps identify differences in knowledge sharing behavior between professionals in the developed and developing world, and betwee