Background and Objectives: Knowledge creation and knowledge transfer are central processes in knowledge management and depend substantially on the skills, capabilities, and empowerment of organizational employees. In libraries, librarians’ ability to create, share, document, and transfer knowledge can influence organizational learning and the effective use of accumulated expertise. Empowerment is not a single-dimensional phenomenon; it may be shaped by individual characteristics, group conditions, and organizational arrangements. Because university libraries operate in knowledge-intensive environments, identifying the factors that support librarians’ empowerment can help managers strengthen both the production and circulation of knowledge. The present study aimed to investigate the factors associated with empowering librarians at Iran University of Medical Sciences and Tehran University of Medical Sciences for knowledge creation and transfer. These two institutions provide an appropriate setting for examining empowerment and organizational knowledge processes in a professional academic context. It also examined the relationships between individual, group, and organizational factors and these two knowledge-management processes and sought to identify the factors with the greatest reported influence on librarians’ empowerment in this context.
Methodology: This applied study used a survey-correlational design. The study population consisted of 137 librarians employed at Iran University of Medical Sciences (76 librarians) and Tehran University of Medical Sciences (61 librarians). Based on Morgan’s sampling table, 104 participants were selected, and data were collected randomly. Two standard instruments were used: Spreitzer’s Empowerment Questionnaire (1995) and the Newman and Conrad Knowledge Management Questionnaire (1999). The empowerment questionnaire covered competence, impact, meaning, choice, and trust, while the knowledge-management model included knowledge creation, knowledge retention, knowledge transfer, and knowledge application; the present study focused on knowledge creation and knowledge transfer. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Pearson correlation was used for normally distributed quantitative variables and Spearman correlation for nominal qualitative variables. Statistical analyses were performed in SPSS version 23, and AMOS was used to examine the structural model and the influence of empowerment factors on knowledge creation and transfer. The reported model-fit ratio of chi-square to degrees of freedom (CMIN/DF) was 3.227, which the authors considered within the acceptable range.
Findings: The results indicated meaningful relationships between several empowerment-related factors and knowledge creation or transfer. At the individual level, the reported analyses showed significant relationships between gender, age, and work experience and knowledge creation, whereas the reported p-value for education in the corresponding table did not indicate significance. For knowledge transfer, significant relationships were reported for gender and level of education, while age and work experience were not significantly related to transfer. At the group level, trust and sense of meaning were significantly related to both knowledge creation and knowledge transfer. In contrast, competence, choice, and perceived impact were not significantly related to either process. The study also reported no significant overall relationship between organizational factors and knowledge creation or knowledge transfer in the correlation analysis. The structural-model discussion emphasized the importance of group factors, particularly trust and meaningfulness, in supporting the two knowledge processes. Overall, the findings suggest that empowerment is associated with stronger knowledge-related behaviors among librarians, although the strength and statistical significance of specific dimensions vary across knowledge creation and knowledge transfer.
Discussion: The study concludes that empowerment can contribute to librarians’ capacity to create and transfer knowledge, especially through selected individual and group factors. Gender, education, trust, and sense of meaning were highlighted in the article as influential factors, while some other empowerment dimensions showed no significant relationships. The findings point to practical measures that libraries can use to support knowledge creation and transfer. These include publishing internal newsletters to document librarians’ experiences and professional knowledge; improving librarians’ advanced Internet-search skills; strengthening creativity and innovation skills; developing procedures for extracting and documenting organizational knowledge; monitoring knowledge produced outside the library; increasing managers’ awareness of librarians’ skills and expertise; and facilitating knowledge sharing through meetings and seminars. The study also recommends improving access to needed information and knowledge, encouraging the sharing of personal experiences, granting librarians greater autonomy in performing their duties, involving them in work-related decisions, promoting honesty, facilitating the exchange of important information, and encouraging mutual support among colleagues. Together, these measures may reinforce trust, meaningfulness, participation, and knowledge-sharing conditions within academic medical libraries. By creating an environment in which librarians can use their expertise, exchange experiences, and participate more actively in professional decisions, library managers may strengthen the organizational conditions needed for more effective knowledge creation and transfer.