Knowledge Sharing Relation to Competence, Emotional Intelligence, and Social Media Regarding Generations

Knowledge Management

Knowledge is becoming a strategically important resource and a very significant driver of organizational performance (Yesil & Dereli, 2013). Either located in the minds of the individuals (tacit knowledge) (Polányi, 1966), embedded in organizational routines and norms, codified in technological devices (explicit knowledge) (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995), knowledge enables the development of new competences (Choo, 1998). Successful companies are those that consistently create new knowledge, disseminate this knowledge throughout the organization, and embody it in technologies, products and services (Gaál et al., 2009). Knowledge management describes the processes of acquiring, developing, sharing, exploiting and protecting organizational knowledge to improve organizations’ competitiveness. Organizations around the world have focused on knowledge management and have already developed knowledge management programs in order to improve their performance with varying degrees of success.

Clearly one important set of activities involves the defining knowledge and constructing the metrics to assess how effectively an organization is managing (sharing) its knowledge.

Knowledge Sharing

To ensure the success and long-term survival of any organizations effective knowledge sharing is of critical importance (Gaál et al., 2008). Li (2010, p. 40) defines knowledge sharing as an activity, in which “participants are involved in the joint process of contributing, negotiating and utilizing knowledge”. On the other hand, according to Moeller and Svahn (2004, p. 220) knowledge sharing is “sharing not only codified information”…”but also management beliefs, images, experiences, and contextualized practices”. Mueller (2012, p. 436) emphasized that at least two people, groups, or organizations are involved in knowledge sharing “the sender, who is willing and able to share knowledge, and the receiver, who is willing and able to combine this new knowledge with his or her existing knowledge and use it”. The two parties can also share their knowledge found in their minds or the knowledge found in electronic or traditional documents. Furthermore, the knowledge sharing process can also be simultaneous when the parties involved are all present, or consecutive when these parties make their knowledge explicit (Szabó & Csepregi, 2015). Knowledge sharing can be characterized by communication processes and information flows. In many social situations knowledge sharing is a common activity but knowledge sharing within an organization tends to be a complex and complicated issue and, as a result, needs to be actively managed. Knowledge sharing is typically focused on activities that involve providing information and knowledge to assist others in solving problems, develop new ideas, or implement processes (Cummings, 2004).