Knowledge Sharing in Public Sector Organizations: The Effect of Organizational Characteristics on Interdepartmental Knowledge Sharing

A. Willem () and Marc Buelens

Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium from Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration

Abstract: Public sector organizations are mainly knowledge-intensive organizations and to exploit their knowledge, effective knowledge sharing among the different departments is required. We focus on specific characteristics of public sector organizations that increase or limit interdepartmental knowledge sharing. Three types of organization-specific coordination mechanisms directly influence knowledge sharing between units. Organizations are also characterized by members’ social identification and trust, which in the absence of power games are assumed to create a knowledge sharing context. Data are presented from a questionnaire survey in the public sector. The sample consists of 359 cooperations between departments in more than 90 different public sector organizations. Structural equation modelling reveals the importance of lateral coordination and trust. The combination of power games and informal networking seems to be remarkably beneficial for knowledge sharing. Furthermore, compared with other public sector organizations, government institutions have organizational characteristics that are less beneficial for knowledge sharing.

Keywords: coordination mechanisms; knowledge sharing; organization structure; public sector organizations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 32 pages
Date: 2005-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm and nep-soc
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (23)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:rug:rugwps:05/344

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