Intergroup Contact Theory: Examining Knowledge Sharing Among Individuals From Different Tribes

Introduction

The wealth of a nation does not only depend on their assets and other infrastructural development thus, effective acquisition, sharing and the utilisation of the country’s knowledge would aid value creation (Noor and Salim, 2011). At the organizational level, knowledge is seen to be the facet of growth and it is the major resource that provides a competitive edge to the organization (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995). Therefore, managing organizational knowledge which could also be referred to as knowledge management is essential for organizations to sustain a competitive edge.

Knowledge sharing which is a major process of knowledge management (Gupta and Govindarajan, 2000) would help organisations to realise the benefits of knowledge when employees participate in knowledge sharing activities. Knowledge sharing is classified as one of the very important features that help in creating value and profit for an organization (Lahti and Beyerlein 2000). Human resource practitioners have placed much emphasized on how to attract, build and train employees to acquire knowledge, skills and ability since equipping individuals with knowledge is the only way that organizations can capture, share, discover and apply knowledge effectively. Firms such as Microsoft, Schlumberger and others have made a pragmatic strategy swing from hardware based to knowledge based (O’Dell et al., 2002). which is yielding them tremendous benefits.