Knowledge sharing acts as a significant antecedent to organizational commitment in a Confucian culture: a quantitative study of employees in the Hong Kong ICT industry

Abstract

Most studies in organizational commitment have been conducted in western cultures using the three-component model of Meyer and Allen (1991). Knowledge sharing has been identified as a key enabler in gaining competitiveness. It is especially important in the ICT industry where employees share information on rapidly changing technologies. Knowledge sharing and organizational commitment share similar characteristics in terms of organizational issues, human behavior and relations. This research examined the effect of knowledge sharing practices on organizational commitment in the Hong Kong ICT industry. The knowledge sharing practices model of De Vries, Van den Hoff and de Ridder (2006) and the five-component organizational commitment model of Wang (2004) that better explains Confucian culture, were adopted. Data was collected from 310 ICT professionals. Results indicate that Wang’s model is more appropriate in describing employees’ commitment. Knowledge sharing practices have significant and positive effects on all the five organizational commitment components in a Confucian culture.