Trust and Knowledge Sharing of Employees in Organizations

Abstract

Research Question (RQ): How does trust as a factor promote and influence knowledge sharing of employees in organizations? Purpose: The purpose of the article is to examine existing literature on how trust influences or promotes knowledge sharing in organizations. We examined existing research from the USA and EU in the field of trust among employees and its impact on knowledge sharing and the incentives and consequences of knowledge sharing at work. Method: The review of existing scientific research was performed using the guidelines of an integrative literature review. We searched for keywords through the following databases: ABI / INFORM, Business Source Premier, dLIB, EBSCO, ScienceDirect, Scopus, Springer Link, Web of Science. From the search, we found 23 articles with keywords related to knowledge sharing and trust in organizations. The review included articles that were younger than ten years, published in indexed journals with an impact factor above 1. The articles had to refer to the working population, articles that included research from the EU and USA that focused on quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods and published in English and Slovenian, respectively. Results: Through an integrative review of research studies from the EU and USA, we examined the incentives for knowledge sharing, trust, and the consequences of knowledge sharing. We found that in all regions, the most significant element is that the organization has such an organizational culture among employees that encourages trust and leads to the exchange of implicit and explicit knowledge. In an intensive environment, this facilitates the organization to respond to change because it creates new knowledge, is innovative, and competitively. Organization and society: The review of articles and findings help the organization, especially leaders, to strive to create an organizational culture at a level that creates trust among employees, leading to knowledge exchange and creation of new knowledge, with the goal of being and working in a changing environment. Originality: The research offers findings from the EU and the USA, on the specific incentives for knowledge sharing, the importance of trust in sharing, and the consequences of knowledge sharing and knowledge creation for organizations. Limitations/Future Research: The research is limited due to the number of articles reviewed, the geographical research context, and journal indexation and age. At the same time, other factors that help or hinder knowledge sharing could be taken into account. This would lead to a better and more comprehensive view of the issue of the influence of various factors on knowledge sharing. (English) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]