Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Faculty Member, Department of Medical Library and Information Sciences, Faculty of paramedical, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran, Iran

2 Associate Professor of Medical Library and Information Sciences, School of Allied Medical Sciences,Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

3 Associate professor, Department of Psychology,, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran.

4 M.Sc. in Medical Library and Information Science, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran and Office of Khouzestan public libraries, Expert of libraries affairs, Ahvaz, Iran.

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 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

Keywords

Ashrafi, Bozorg (1995). Factors affecting the organizational commitment of managers and staff of Eastern Alborz Coal Company. Master thesis, Tarbiat Modarres University, School of Management. [In Persian].
Beshlideh, Kioumars (2014). Research methodes and statistical analysis of research examples using SPSS and AMOS (For Studies in humanities). Ahvaz: Shahid Chamran University.
Bhatt, G. D. (2002). Management strategies for individual knowledge and organizational knowledge. Journal of knowledge management, 6(1), 31-39.
Chatzoglou, P. D., & Vraimaki, E. (2009). Knowledge-sharing behaviour of bank employees in Greece. Business Process Management Journal, 15(2), 245-266.
Cheasakul, U., & Varma, P. (2016). The influence of passion and empowerment on organizational citizenship behavior of teachers mediated by organizational commitment. Contaduría y Administración, 61(3), 422-440.
Chennamaneni, A., Teng, J. T., & Raja, M. K. (2012). A unified model of knowledge sharing behaviours: theoretical development and empirical test. Behaviour & Information Technology, 31(11), 1097-1115.
Chiu, S. F., & Chen, H. L. (2005). Relationship between job characteristics and organizational citizenship behavior: The mediational role of job satisfaction. Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal, 33(6), 523-540.
Doraji Raghiveh, Soraya; Jafarnia, Saeed (2014). Investigating the Effect of Organizational Learning Culture on Knowledge Sharing with the Mediating Function of Corporate Citizenship Behavior of Staff. The First International Conference on Political Epic (with an Approach to Middle Eastern Developments) and Economic Epic (with an Approach to Management and Accounting), Islamic Azad University of Roudehen Branch. [In Persian]. https://www.civilica.com/Paper-ICPEEE01-ICPEEE01_0401.html
Eftekhari, Leila (2008). Investigating the Relationship between Organizational Culture and Knowledge Management at Research Institute of Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. Master thesis, Payame Noor University of Tehran. [In Persian].
Ghasemi, Mehran; Mirabi, Vahid Reza. (2017). Study the Relationship between Knowledge Sharing and Organizational Citizenship Behavior the firefighting personnel in kish. 6th International Conference on Accounting and Management with Modern Research Sciences (2017-03-05) by was held in Tehran. [In Persian].
Hakanen, J. J., Bakker, A. B., & Demerouti, E. (2005). How dentists cope with their job demands and stay engaged: The moderating role of job resources. European journal of oral sciences, 113(6), 479-487.
Hosseini; Seyed Mojtaba; Danaei-Fard, Hasan (2012). The impact of organizational citizenship behavior on knowledge sharing: A survey on organizational culture as an intermediate variable. Iranian journal of management sciences, issue 32, 109-130. [In Persian].
Kalantar Hormozi, Mehdi. (2017). Review and evaluation of the relationship between knowledge management and staff's job engagement increment and deviant behaviors abatement (Case Study: Mapna MD 2 Company). Master thesis, Payame Noor University of Tehran. [In Persian].
Kline, R. B. (2011). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling. (Third Edition). New York: The Guilford press.
Law, C. C., & Ngai, E. W. (2008). An empirical study of the effects of knowledge sharing and learning behaviors on firm performance. Expert systems with applications, 34(4), 2342-2349.
Lin, H. F., & Lee, G. G. (2006). Effects of socio-technical factors on organizational intention to encourage knowledge sharing. Management decision, 44(1), 74-88.
Mirzadarani, Hamide. (2012). A study of relationship between job engagement and knowledge sharing behavior among faculty members at human sciences faculties in university of Isfahan. Master thesis, University of Isfahan, Faculty of Educational Sciences & Psychology, Department of Educational Sciences. [In Persian].
Moghimi, Seyed Mohammad; Samadi Miarkolaei, Hossein. (2016). The Relationship between Organizational Citizenship Behavior with promoting knowledge sharing among Staff of Mazandaran Province’s Education and Training Administration. Quarterly Journal of Educational Leadership & Administration, 9(3): 119-139. [In Persian].
Najjar asl, Sedigheh. (2010). THE relationship between the important motivational variables with organizational citizenship behavior in employees of Islamic Azad Universities. Quarterly Journal of Social Psychology (New Findings in Psychology, 5(16): 83-96. [In Persian]. 
Nasiri, Behrouz. (2013). Investigating the effective factors in motivate employees on knowledge sharing. 6th Conference on Knowledge Management. Tehran, Institute of Oil, Gas and petrochemical Information. [In Persian]. 
Organ, D. W. (1997). Organizational citizenship behavior: It's construct clean-up time. Human performance, 10(2), 85-97.
Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Paine, J. B., & Bachrach, D. G. (2000). Organizational citizenship behaviors: A critical review of the theoretical and empirical literature and suggestions for future research. Journal of management, 26(3), 513-563.
Ramasamy, M., & Thamaraiselvan, N. (2011). Knowledge sharing and organizational citizenship behavior. Knowledge and Process Management, 18(4), 278-284.
Schaufeli, W.B., Bakker, A. B., & Salanova, M. (2006). The measurement of work engagement with a short questionnaire: A cross-national study. Educational and psychological measurement, 66(4), 701-716.
Schaufeli, W.B., Salanova, M., González-Romá, V., & Bakker, A. B. (2002). The measurement of engagement and burnout: A two sample confirmatory factor analytic approach. Journal of Happiness studies, 3(1), 71-92.
Shamsi, Mohammad Ebrahim; bozorgzadeh, Abbas; Pasha, Reza, & Hajipour, Firoozeh. (2015). The Relationship between Knowledge Sharing with Social Intelligence and Organisational Citizenship Behavior of Education Office in Mahmud Abad. 2nd national conference and the first International Conference on new research in the humanities, Tehran, Modiran Idehpardaz Paytakht Viera Institute. [In Persian].
Solano, B. R. (2009). Organizational politics, personality and willingness to share knowledge: The mediational role of employee engagement. Doctoral dissertation, Alliant International University, Marshall Goldsmith School of Management, San Diego.
Yazdanshenas, Mehdiy; khoshnoud, Ali. (2014). Explaining the framework of relationships between knowledge sharing and organizational citizenship behavior in the base of positive organizational behavior. Journal of Public Administration, 6(1), 189-208. [In Persian].