Adoption of Knowledge-Sharing Strategies and Its determinants in Higher Education Institutions in South Africa

Introduction

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) serve as reservoir of knowledge and are no longer just providing knowledge to students but also manage, blend and share knowledge among the faculty staff themselves. Albino et al. (1999) describe knowledge as a set of information associated to a meaning by an individual or organizational interpretation process. Knowledge is considered as the primary source of competitive advantage and critical to the long term sustainability and success of the organisation (Nonaka &Takeuchi, 1995). Davenport and Prusak (1998) defined knowledge as a fluid mix of framed experience, values, contextual information and expert insights that provides a framework for evaluating and incorporating new experiences and information. Knowledge can also be understood as information processed by individuals including ideas, facts, expertise and judgments relevant for individual, team and organizational performance (Wang & Noe, 2010). Knowledge production and diffusion is therefore widely accepted as a critical factor for economic growth with universities playing a key role in developing a knowledge based economy (Schotfield, 2013). The positive role of the higher education sector in building knowledge-based economies is highly promoted by international organizations such as the World Bank, because investment in quality training and higher education generates major external benefits that are critical for knowledge-driven economic and social development (Ramady, 2010).