Psychosocial antecedents of knowledge sharing in healthcare research centers: a mixed-methods approach

Abstract

Abstract Background Knowledge sharing is a complex psychosocial phenomenon related to organizational performance and innovation. While considered knowledge intensive environments, healthcare organizations rely heavily on knowledge as a resource. However, effective knowledge management policies and research in healthcare organizations is still scarce, being of extreme shortage in specific environments, such as healthcare research centers. This study addresses this gap by using the Theory of Reasoned Action to investigate the impact of psychosocial factors as antecedents of knowledge sharing between healthcare research peers in such environments.Methods We follow a mixed-methods design using a sample of 150 healthcare researchers to study the relation between perceptions of social network, shared goals, social trust, and knowledge sharing. A quantitative approach uses a structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the links in an original model and the mediation effect of the intention to share knowledge on knowledge sharing behavior. A fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) identifies alternative configurations that lead knowledge sharing intention and its absence as well as the knowledge sharing behavior and its absence considering additional sample characteristics. Results Findings show evidence of the proposed antecedents of the effect on knowledge sharing, namely social network and social trust (p<0.001). Shared Goals, while addressed in the literature, seem to be unrelated to knowledge sharing intention and behavioral output in research centers. While knowledge sharing intention is directly related to knowledge sharing behavior, additional configurations of causal conditions that lead to the presence or absence of the intention and knowledge sharing behavior are discussed, with emphasis on both psychosocial antecedent configuration and sample characteristics to enlarge potential theoretical and practical outcomes. Conclusions This study identifies the influence of both psychosocial and team characteristic aspects leading to knowledge sharing behavior between healthcare researchers. The importance of a rich social network lying on trust is vital for a sharing environment inside research environments. Given the complex nature of behavioral intentionality, additional findings allow an articulation between individual characteristics based on gender, age, experience and seniority and the psychosocial antecedents – therefore substantiating the proposition of complex configurations between antecedents that hints for team configuration strategies and managerial practices in healthcare research teams.

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