Effect of shared goals on knowledge sharing and withholding: the mediating role of exploration activities

ABSTRACT

Drawing on social capital theory, we investigated how shared goals affect the intentions of knowledge sharing and knowledge withholding across professional boundaries mediated through exploration activities. To examine the model, we performed structural equation modelling using two sets of two-wave survey data on nurses from two acute-care hospitals in Japan (Study 1, n = 178; Study 2, n = 210). The results of both studies showed that shared goals had an indirect positive effect on knowledge-sharing intention and an indirect negative effect on knowledge-withholding intention, fully mediated through exploration activities. The present study contributes to the literature by identifying the full mediation effects of exploration activities in linking shared goals to knowledge sharing/withholding across boundaries. This study sheds light on the positive effects of exploration activities in overcoming knowledge-sharing barriers across boundaries.

KEYWORDS:

• shared goals
• exploration activities
• knowledge sharing intention
• knowledge withholding intention

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, upon reasonable request.

Disclosure Statement

There are no conflicts of interest to declare.

Ethics Declarations

Research involving human participants: All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards for research involving human participants. Informed consent was obtained from all participants for being included in this study. This study has been approved by the research ethics committee of Center for Experimental Research in Social Sciences (CERSS) of Hokkaido University (The approval number: 2021–13).

Additional information

Funding

This study did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies.