Exploring the Factors Affecting Knowledge Sharing Practices in Dhaka University Library

I. INTRODUCTIONMany organizations have realized the advantages and benefits of sharing information and knowledge within the organization (Goh & Hooper, 2009). Today, DUL is the largest library in Bangladesh. It is playing a critical role in the expansion of higher education and research. It has become a centre for co-operation, promotion and service in education and research (Chowdhury, 2006). There are two levels of knowledge within an organization: knowledge that resides within the individuals in the organization and knowledge that exists at the collective level, independent of individuals (Spender, 1996). Hara (2007) proposed three broad types of knowledge that may be shared: book knowledge, practical knowledge, and cultural knowledge. The term 'knowledge sharing (KS)' implies the giving and receiving of information framed within a context by the knowledge of the sources (Sharratt & Usoro, 2003). KS is the process of mutually exchanging knowledge and jointly creating new knowledge (van den Hoff & de Ridder, 2004). Basically, KS is done in two ways: a) By articulation i.e. an individual succeeds in formulating the fundamentals of his/her own tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge that can be stored or formalized or shared within the organization; and b) By socialization that is the sharing of tacit knowledge between people and knowledge moves from tacit to tacit (Nonaka, 1991). The rest of the paper is structured as follows: section II-V describes the review of literature, objectives of the study, research questions, and research methodology and sample of the study; section VI presents the results and discussion, while section VII discusses about the findings and implications and we conclude with a brief summary in section VIII.II. REVIEW OF LITERATUREIn the hierarchical view, knowledge is the product of information. When information is analyzed, processed and placed in context, it becomes knowledge. This has been reflected in the definition of knowledge as information possessed in the mind of individuals (Alavi & Leidner, 2001). To some commentators, knowledge has more value because it is closer to action than are data and information (Cheng, 2000). Based on the work of Polanyi (1966), Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) promoted recognition of the tacit-explicit knowledge classification, which has been widely cited in literature. Jan Duffy defines explicit knowledge as "knowledge that is documented and public; structured, fixed-content, externalized, and conscious" and tacit knowledge as "personal, undocumented knowledge; context-sensitive, dynamically-created and derived, internalized and experience-based; often resides in the human mind, behavior and perception. " (Jan Duffy, 2000) Davenport and Prusak, as cited by (Kimiz, 2005, p.2) suggest that multiple factors have led to the current "knowledge boom" the perception and the reality of a new global competitiveness is one of the driving forces therefore, the only sustainable advance a firm has, comes from what it collectively knows, how efficiently it uses what it knows and how quickly it acquires and uses new knowledge. This has led to a strong need for a deliberate and systematic approach for cultivating and sharing an organization's knowledge base (Davenport, 2000). The approach of Bartol and Srivastava (2000) refers to information as an element of KS and defines it as the action in which relevant information are diffused by employees to others across organization. Moller and Svahn (2004: 220) emphasize that KS is "sharing not only codified information, such as production and product specifications, delivery and logistic information, but also management beliefs, images, experiences, and contextualize practices such as business-process development. " Traditionally, information professionals' roles were limited to the identification, acquisition and organization of explicit knowledge or information. Today, that role is being expanded to include other forms of knowledge activities- tacit and implicit knowledge in the form of skills and competencies (Hawamdeh et al, 2004). …