Propensity for knowledge sharing: An organizational justice perspective.

Converting individual knowledge into organizational knowledge can be difficult because individuals refuse to share knowledge for a number of different reasons. Creating an atmosphere of fairness plays an important role in the creation of a knowledge-sharing climate. This dissertation proposes that perceptions of organizational justice are crucial building blocks of that environment, leading to knowledge sharing. Data was collected using a field survey of IT managers representing a broad spectrum of the population in terms of organizational size and industry classification. The survey instrument was developed based on the adaptation of previously validated scales in addition to new items where no existing measures were found. Hypotheses regarding the influence of distributional, procedural, and interactional justice on knowledge sharing processes were tested using structural equation modeling techniques. Based on the theory of reasoned action, which states that attitudes and subjective norms are the major determinants of a person's intention, the hypotheses examining the relationship between attitude toward knowledge sharing, subjective norm and the intention to share knowledge were supported. However, results did not support the hypothesis exploring the relationship between the organizational climate and the intention to share knowledge. The results show that all three types of justice constructs are statistically significant antecedents of organizational climate and interactional justice is an antecedent of an attitude toward knowledge sharing. The study attempts to merge streams of research from sociology and organizational behavior by investigating organizational justice and knowledge management. It contributes to theory by the development of the survey instrument, comprised of seven constructs that were developed by incorporating multiple theories to address various aspects of knowledge sharing and provide application to practice and research. It is relevant to IT managers who need to know how to design information systems that are most effective in distributing knowledge throughout organizations