Cultural Values and Knowledge Sharing in the Context of Sustainable Organizations

• Main Authors: Delio I. Castaneda, Camilo A. Ramírez
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-07-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: cultural values; knowledge sharing; tacit knowledge; explicit knowledge; knowledge management
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/14/7819

The current research studied the relationship between cultural values and tacit and explicit knowledge sharing behavior in the context of sustainable organizations. The sample consisted of 751 workers from Colombian organizations. It was found that sharing explicit and tacit knowledge correlated with the cultural dimensions of uncertainty avoidance, individualism–collectivism, and paternalism. On the other side, sharing tacit and explicit knowledge did not correlate with the cultural dimensions of power distance and masculinity–femininity. For organizational managers interested in knowledge sharing, a lesson is to facilitate environments of low uncertainty, care about the needs of workers, and have high collective values such as respect and interest in what others do. These values are essential for the promotion of knowledge sharing, which in turn contributes to sustainable organizations. From the theoretical point of view, the study opens a new line of research that integrates cultural studies and knowledge management to investigate the differential impact of cultural values on tacit and explicit knowledge sharing in organizational contexts.