Parastoo Parsaei- Mohammadi; Fereydoon Azadeh; Seyed Esmaeil Hashemi; Ebtesam Savari
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Nowadays, organizations pay high attention to organizational knowledge management to achieve superiority among organizations. Organizations must provide the ground for knowledge sharing amongst employees and develop behaviors to convince them that they should act beyond the ...
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Background and Objectives: Nowadays, organizations pay high attention to organizational knowledge management to achieve superiority among organizations. Organizations must provide the ground for knowledge sharing amongst employees and develop behaviors to convince them that they should act beyond the requirements of their formal roles and responsibilities (organizational citizenship behavior). Another important factor facilitating knowledge sharing is the motivation of employees to participate in sharing knowledge (work engagement). Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between work engagement and knowledge sharing by mediating organizational citizenship behavior among the non-clinical staff of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences (AJUMS).
Methodology: The present study is applied in terms of its practical purpose, information gathering methods, correlation through structural equation modeling (SEM), time and cross-section perspective (in 2018), and it is a qualitative investigation regarding the type of data. The research population consisted of 1182 non-clinical staff of AJUMS. The sample size was determined by the Cochran formula, and 280 members were selected by stratified random sampling. Data collection tools included three questionnaires, including Knowledge Sharing questionnaire (Chennamaneni, Teng & Raja; 2012), the work engagement questionnaire (Schaufeli, Bakker & Salanova; 2006), and the organizational citizenship behavior questionnaire (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Paine & Bachrach; 2000). The knowledge sharing questionnaire has 14 questions and two components (intention to share knowledge and knowledge sharing behavior), Work Engagement has 17 questions and three components (vigor, absorption, and dedication), and Organizational citizenship behavior has 24 questions and five components (Civic Virtue, Altruism, Conscientiousness, Sportsmanship, and Courtesy). The validity of the questionnaires of the current research was verified by six members of the academic staff of librarianship and information science, as well as the psychology of AJUMS and the Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, and the necessary changes were applied to the items. The reliability of all three questionnaires was calculated using Cronbach's alpha. The reliability coefficients for the knowledge sharing variable, Work Engagement, and organizational citizenship behavior were 91%, 95%, and 89%, respectively indicating the reliability of the questionnaires. The scoring method of all the questionnaires used in this research was based on a 5-point Likert scale, which was randomly distributed among the non-clinical staff of AJUMS. The return rate of questionnaires was 200 (72%). The proposed model test was performed using the SEM by AMOS-21 software.
Findings: Out of 200 participants in the present study, 34.5% and 65.5% were men and women, respectively. Married and single participants comprised 72% and 28% of the respondents, respectively. The educational levels of the respondents ranged from associate (16%), bachelor's (51%), master's (30%), and doctorate (3%) degrees. In terms of employment status, 30%, 13%, 44%, and 13% of the respondents were permanent employment, contractual, contracted, and staffing plan, respectively. The calculated average values ± standard deviations of the participants' scores were 55.20 ± 10.11 for the Work Engagement variable, 76.03 ± 15.28 for organizational citizenship behavior, and 41.52 ± 8.11 for knowledge sharing. The results indicated positive and significant relationships (P < 0.01) between work engagement and organizational citizenship behavior (r= 0.48), organizational citizenship behavior and knowledge sharing (r = 0.47), and work engagement and knowledge sharing (r = 0.54). The results of path analysis showed direct positive effects of work engagement on organizational citizenship behavior (β = 0.52, P < 0.001), organizational citizenship behavior on knowledge sharing (β = 0.32, p < 0.002), and work engagement on knowledge sharing (Β = 0.63, p < 0.001). In hypothesis 4, the role of mediating organizational citizenship behavior was tested in the relationship between work engagement and knowledge sharing, which also confirms this hypothesis.
Discussion: Employees with high abilities and flexibility should be identified by the organization to increase the probability of expressing organizational citizenship behaviors in employees with work engagement. In this case, it may be possible for the university to increase knowledge sharing among the staff and apply the knowledge of employees towards the goals of the organization. Accordingly, it is suggested to hold training courses and familiarize managers and employees with the concepts of knowledge sharing, organizational citizenship behavior, and Work Engagement to make them aware of the advantages and benefits that such behaviors will bring to individuals and organization
