A Model of Knowledge-sharing for the 21st Century Organizations

Abstract

Organizations’ survival ability is increasingly constrained by their innovation possibilities, that is, by their capacity to create and share knowledge in order to cope with new and more complex challenges. Aiming for the three axes on which new organizational models must be based (economic, technological, and social innovation), this article carries out a systematic review among five databases on the variables related to innovation in organizations. After applying exclusion criteria, 132 papers out of the 1,215 originally found were analyzed. As a result, an integrating theoretical model was proposed from the organizational psychology perspective: the model of knowledge-sharing organizations. The model allows for cultural, psychosocial, and technological aspects and proposes three levels of analysis: 1) innovative culture and governance (that groups together the characteristics of a culture oriented towards innovation, and the organizational policies into which it is translated); 2) leadership, teams, and people (that includes variables that impact people’s innovative capacity, leadership styles, and forms of teamwork); and 3) technological tools for innovation (that focus on how technology can be used, specifically ICT, to enhance the organization’s innovative capacity). Future directions as well as limitations are addressed at the end of the article.