Stimulating motivation for knowledge sharing: A volunteerism perspective for human behavior in relation to personality traits among academics in HEIs in the Kingdom of Bahrain

Abstract

In the global economic environment, Knowledge Sharing Behavior (KSB) is prosperous of Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs). Universities play a role in the dissemination of knowledge and knowledgeable graduates for society. They face knowledge-based competition, thus, the dissemination of produced and renewed knowledge among academicians is essential. Yet, insufficient efforts were noted among academics in the context of HEIs. Knowledge management thrives to establish effective and efficient strategies to enhance KSB, however, employees hesitate to share their knowledge. To face this challenge, studies tackled a variety of motivations – intrinsic and extrinsic, that foster KSB in different organizational contexts. Yet, individuals raised some barriers, such as lack of resources and mainly time. This challenge forced knowledge management to enhance motivators continuously for consistent KSB. The literature showed that when informally volunteering (in the workplace), employees prioritize their time and tasks to share knowledge for the common good. High-valued (for others’ interests) motivation as opposed to low-valued (for self-interests) motivation, is essential for academics as knowledge workers. As such, KSB is considered a social or voluntary activity. An argument in the literature questions why individuals respond differently to KSB and its motivational forces. Some studies found that when individuals possess humanitarian values, are motivated by such values. Whereas others found that how to act on humanitarian values is more important. Others argue that an environment with sophisticated technologies is essential to encourage KSB. Noteworthy, there is a consensus among most studies that individual factors are the most influencing contributors to KSB, compared with managerial and technological factors. Personality Traits are considered as prerequisites for predicting KSB, and voluntary behavior as well. However, some studies suggest that knowing personality traits that foster such behavior is not sufficient, and motivational factors should be aligned with the suitable personality traits to predict KSB. In this sense, the literature showed inconclusive and questionable results in examining the effect of personality traits on KSB under the influence of different motivational factors. This could be due to that personality traits interact differently with motivational forces in disparate contexts. This complex interaction developed the need for more empirical evidence. Another reason could be, the complexity of the interaction of individuals’ personality traits with KSB as a construct with two forms, voluntary (up to their will), and solicited (up to others’ request), where each has different characteristics. Another probable reason is that the available studies present theoretical frameworks that partially address the targeted relationships in different contexts, targeting different samples. The literature showed a gap in the empirical studies that examine KSB in its simplistic form (as one construct). There is little research that bridges the gap between predicting voluntary behavior in general and KSB specifically. There is a lack of studies with adequate theoretical frameworks that manipulate the interaction of personality traits and Voluntary Knowledge Sharing Behavior (VKSB) – the proactive form. Meaning, considering the effect of personality traits on KSB as a social or voluntary activity, and ‘Prosocial Value Motive to Volunteering’ as the motivational force to predict V KSB. This study is among the few to bridge this gap and consider the factors that predict voluntary behavior in the area of knowledge sharing. In addressing this gap, this doctoral study developed the research questions: What is the relationship between an individual's personality traits and voluntary knowledge sharing behavior? And what is the mediating role of 'prosocial value motive to volunteering' in this relationship? This study adopted a quantitative research methodology and developed a conceptual model with eleven hypotheses to examine the relationship between personality traits’ and V, and the mediating effect of prosocial value motive to volunteering’ in the relationship. This study is the first in The Kingdom of Bahrain, that adopts a volunteerism perspective to predict academics voluntary KSB in HEIs. The first study in Bahrain to investigate the relationships between HEIs academics’ personality traits and their VKSB, stimulated by their prosocial value motive as a predictor for VKSB. The volunteerism perspective extends the use of the ‘Functional Theory of Volunteer’s Motivation’ in predicting the ‘Voluntary Knowledge Sharing Behavior’, as a social or voluntary engagement, under the mediating effect of ‘Prosocial Value Motive to volunteering’, leading to sustained VKSB. This novelty of work is an attempt to eliminate the gap found in the theoretical contribution and understand the nature of VKSB, its predictors of motivational forces, and academics’ personality traits (PTs). The findings will practically contribute to maintaining the Knowledge Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Standards of Bahrain’s HEIs, through personality-based strategies. In turn, the findings will support Bahrain's ten-year plan aims, to position Bahrain as the regional hub for HE. Simultaneously, the vision addresses the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 (SDGs). The empirical results have shown that academics’ personality traits (Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism (reversed) have a positive correlation with VKSB, except Openness to Experience. Further, the prosocial value motive to volunteering has positively mediated the relationship. The theoretical contribution is the development of the empirical model that explains the phenomena of VKSB, in the Bahraini context. Moreover, this reseaarch expands the understanding of the construct of KSB as two forms. It extends the ‘Functional Theory of Volunteer’s Motivation’ in predicting the ‘Voluntary Knowledge Sharing Behavior’, as a social or voluntary engagement, under the mediating effect of ‘Prosocial Value Motive to volunteering’, among Bahraini academics in Bahrain’s HEIs.