Empowering Knowledge Sharing Behaviours through Means Oriented vs. Goal Oriented Cultures: The Impact of Organizational Culture on Knowledge Sharing

Globally, organisations have become more aware of the importance of knowledge to gain and sustain a competitive business advantage. However, many organisations have ignored the importance of knowledge sharing among employees within an organisation. Recently, organisational culture has emerged as a key factor influencing the extent of knowledge sharing between employees. This paper aims to investigate the role of specific dimensions of organisational culture in the success of knowledge sharing. One of these dimensions, suggested by Hofstede, examined the difference between means oriented and goal oriented organisational cultures. In a means oriented culture, people avoid taking risks, only exhibit a limited effort at their jobs and spend their time caught in a routine. In contrast, workers in a goal oriented culture tend to be concerned about what needs to be achieved, are willing to try new approaches and sometimes take risks. The current review investigated special relationships between knowledge sharing behaviours at the work place, with regard to means oriented and goals oriented organizational culture dimensions.