Earth,fire and water: Knowledge sharing, knowledge recovery and knowledge management - Investigating Malaysian community behaviour

This paper reports on an investigation of the critical success factors (CSFs) of knowledge sharing behaviour (KSB) among Malaysian undergraduate students (MUS). The research question considered the question regarding “what makes knowledge sharing behaviour (KSB) successful among two Malaysian undergraduate communities in Manchester, United Kingdom and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia?”The overall aim of the research is to identify the critical success factors (CSFs) for effective online knowledge sharing behaviour (KSB) among Malaysian undergraduate students (MUS). Each part of the study can be seen as a metaphor for three of the elements – Fire – for Knowledge Sharing as the sharing takes place rapidly and is difficult to control, Earth for Knowledge Recovery – seen as regeneration and Water for Knowledge Management – the liquid that allows all to flow in harmony and therefore all information to flow in natural and useful ways