Knowledge Sharing and Trust are concepts that have been explored by many
researchers. However, the literature does not provide a generally acceptable definition of either of
them. Still, people seem to understand clearly when they trust someone and when knowledge
has been shared. If we take the example of interviews by journalists, the concept of speaking
`on or off the record' is generally understood in North America. Here one can make out the
role that trust plays in a relationship where knowledge is shared.
The journalist may be looking for different
kinds of information such as where to look for the story, who the important
players are, and how to analyze and evaluate the evidence collected. The person providing the information may not be ready to
come out publicly with the story, but may have an interest in presenting the information
to the public, or in `doing a favor' that is expected to be repaid later. From the
journalist's point of view, the published story may or may not directly reflect the knowledge
provided by informant.
On the other hand, it is not so easy to position trust and knowledge sharing within
an organization even when there is "accumulating evidence that trust has a number of
important benefits for organizations and their members" (Kramer, 1999). It is essential at the same
time, to work through a number of variables linked in a model to the factors considered to
be `success' by an organization. The difficulty in measuring trust is part of a larger problem
of holistically measuring different constructs in groups and organizations (Schien, 1996)
by using objective measures (Grandori and Kogut, 2002; and Soo et al., 2002). Organizations, therefore, must look at measures such as revenue or profit, which are more easily measured,
to determine the value of trust. It would seem logical that organizations would tend to
have little interest in measuring factors that do not provide any link to success. There
are similar difficulties in directly measuring the quantity or quality of knowledge
sharing. However, it is possible to look at the proxies such as investment in knowledge
warehouses, which demonstrates organizational commitment, and the degree to which employees
codify the information and input into the warehouse. The existence and maintenance of
such warehouses would suggest, at least, an investment in collecting and storing
information. Whether that translates into knowledge is, of course, debatable (Kramer, 1999; and Sooet al., 2002).
This paper explores the role of trust in knowledge sharing in day-to-day
operations within organizations. Given the lack of agreement on definitions for both concepts,
working definitions are provided. Based on literature review, trust in terms of interpersonal
and intergroup relations will be explored. The focus is on positive knowledge sharing
(rather than negative knowledge sharing, such as rumors) and trust (not distrust). Trust is
viewed as one of several antecedents to knowledge sharing but is also integral to other
variables that impact knowledge sharing. A model is proposed and suggestions for further
research are made. |
