What leads us to share valuable knowledge? An experimental study of the effects of managerial control, group identification, and social value orientation on knowledge-sharing behavior

Knowledge management (KM) has become an important focus in today´s information systems research and practice. An experiment investigated three factors that influence the behavior of individuals contributing their personally-held knowledge to a knowledge management system (KMS): managerial control, group identification, social value orientation, specifically when the individual sharer believes that the knowledge they are considering sharing has some potential value to them and others in their organization. Hypotheses suggested main and interaction effects of the three antecedents to sharing of valuable knowledge. Supported main effects included managerial control and social value orientation, and the 2-way interaction between social value orientation and managerial control was also supported. The hypothesized three-way interaction was supported. This research can expand understanding of the antecedents of knowledge sharing for both researchers and practitioners alike.