The Impact of Role Conflict, Role Ambiguity, and Locus of Control on Organizational Knowledge Sharing Practices

Knowledge management (KM) literature identifies numerous barriers that inhibit employees´ knowledge sharing practices. Presently, there is a research gap that examines what factors promote such barriers and their direct impact on knowledge seeking and knowledge contributing behaviors via information and communication technologies (ICTs). To bridge the gap, a content analysis study of 104 KM articles identified three contributors to common KM barriers. A proposed causal model based on the contributors was tested using structural equation modeling technique on the responses collected from 314 ICT users. The results demonstrate that role conflict, role ambiguity, and locus of control predicted knowledge seeking and knowledge contributing behaviors via ICTs.