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Top1. Introduction
Knowledge is considered as a critical organizational resource which leads to long-term sustainability and success of organizations. Achieving this sustainability and success requires a better management of the existing knowledge. For an effective and efficient knowledge management, it should have a sound focus on knowledge identification, knowledge acquisition, knowledge creation, knowledge sharing, knowledge storage and knowledge application (Vasanthapriyan et al., 2017). Hence, efficient management of knowledge is not possible without a proper process of knowledge sharing (Paulin & Sunneson, 2012; Andreasian & Andreasian, 2013). Knowledge sharing is the process which integrates and merges knowledge among each individual and teams in an organization by exchanging each other’s tacit knowledge, and explicit knowledge (Paulin & Sunneson, 2012; Andreasian & Andreasian, 2013). The firm that wants to create a knowledge sharing culture should encourage and motivate its employees to work together to generate new knowledge in organizations (Farooq, 2018). Software companies require a good basement of knowledge to stay competitive and growth due to rapid changes in technology (Kukko, 2013), which makes knowledge sharing a cornerstone for their growth and sustainability. Many researchers have identified issues that arise in software companies as of inefficient knowledge sharing (Ranasinghe & Jayawardana, 2011; Kharabsheh et al., 2016). Therefore, in order to improve organizational performance, knowledge should be shared in a structured way that the right knowledge is conveyed to the right person at the right time.
Knowledge sharing in software companies has been attained a considerable attention of researchers. Unfortunately, it is hard to find studies focused directly on Sri Lankan software companies and presently, there is a gap in the literature concerning knowledge sharing in software companies in the context of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is one of the most differed countries from other countries due to its immense cultural difference. Ibrahim and Irfan (2016) clearly specify Sri Lanka as a culture, which is completely different from other countries, mostly from European countries. According to Hofstede’s (Hofstede, 2011) cultural dimensions; power distance, individualism – collectivism, masculinity – femininity etc. are the difference in Sri Lanka. In addition, this difference affects the organizational performance in Sri Lanka. Even though some cultural factors are somewhat similar to South Asian Region, previous studies (Hofstede, 2011; Ibrahim & Irfan, 2016) prove a huge inequality among people in Sri Lanka even when compare with South Asian Region due to a hierarchical division based on ethnicity, religion, language, cast etc.