Fostering knowledge sharing behaviour among public sector managers: a proposed model for the Malaysian public service

Purpose: This paper aims to propose a conceptual model of knowledge sharing behaviour among Malaysian public sector managers. Design/methodology/approach: An extensive literature review method was used to identify and analyse relevant literature in order to propose a knowledge sharing model. Findings: The authors identified three potential predictor groups of knowledge sharing behaviour among Malaysian public sector managers. The groups are intrinsic motivational factors, extrinsic motivational factors and organisational socialisation factors. The paper proposes organisational commitment as the mediating variable between the identified predictors and knowledge sharing behaviour (knowledge donating and knowledge collecting). Research limitations/implications: The paper offers a number of propositions, which leads to a knowledge sharing model. Future research should validate and examine the predictive power of the proposed model. Practical implications: Upon model validation, the paper could offer practical interventions for human resource development (HRD) practitioners to assist organisations towards fostering knowledge sharing behaviour. The paper highlights the importance of employee’s organisational commitment in order to engage in organizational-related behaviours such as knowledge sharing. Originality/value: The paper used a new approach in theorising knowledge sharing behaviour by integrating the General Workplace Commitment Model, Self-Determination Theory and Social Capital Theory. The suggestion of public service motivation as one of the intrinsic motivational factors could provide new insights to the HRD practitioners on fostering knowledge sharing behaviour in the public service subject to model validation

Home ownership motivation in Malaysia: a youth perspective

The government of Malaysia has implemented many housing policies and programs to increase the rate of home ownership among youths. However, this rate remains low as the motivation in having a home has decreased over the years, whilst renting became the youths’ alternative. Besides, a high frequency of job changing has influenced them in purchasing a house. Hence, to verify the gap, this research has performed to understand the relationship between perceived job alternatives and home ownership motivation among Malaysian youths. Local amenities investment, social capital investment, financial benefits, and residential stability are dimensions of home ownership used to study its relationship with perceived job alternatives. Whereas, job insecurity used as a mediating factor between perceived job alternatives and home ownership motivation. The research data collected through an online survey and 379 usable respondents were obtained. Results showed perceived job alternative does have a significant relationship with home ownership and its dimensions. There is also a partial mediating effect of perceived job insecurity on the relationship between perceived job alternatives and home ownership motivation. These findings will be useful for the government to understand the Malaysian youth’s motivation in purchasing a house with a job being an influence

Effect of Polyethylene Glycol Modification of TiO2 Nanoparticles on Cytotoxicity and Gene Expressions in Human Cell Lines

Nanoparticles (NPs) are tiny materials used in a wide range of industrial and medical applications. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a type of nanoparticle that is widely used in paints, pigments, and cosmetics; however, little is known about the impact of TiO2 on human health and the environment. Therefore, considerable research has focused on characterizing the potential toxicity of nanoparticles such as TiO2 and on understanding the mechanism of TiO2 NP-induced nanotoxicity through the evaluation of biomarkers. Uncoated TiO2 NPs tend to aggregate in aqueous media, and these aggregates decrease cell viability and induce expression of stress-related genes, such as those encoding interleukin-6 (IL-6) and heat shock protein 70B’ (HSP70B’), indicating that TiO2 NPs induce inflammatory and heat shock responses. In order to reduce their toxicity, we conjugated TiO2 NPs with polyethylene glycol (PEG) to eliminate aggregation. Our findings indicate that modifying TiO2 NPs with PEG reduces their cytotoxicity and reduces the induction of stress-related genes. Our results also suggest that TiO2 NP-induced effects on cytotoxicity and gene expression vary depending upon the cell type and surface modification

Predictors of knowledge sharing behaviour and mediating role of organisational commitment among Malaysian public service administrators

Fostering employees’ knowledge sharing behaviour (KSB) is an important agenda for the HRD practitioners in this knowledge era. This is because knowledge sharing has been identified as the most crucial process for effective knowledge management and has been associated to organisational performance. Although in recent years studies associated to knowledge sharing started to proliferate, however, the mediating effect of organisational commitment on the relationships between the intrinsic motivational factors (knowledge self-efficacy, enjoyment in helping others, public service motivation), extrinsic motivational factors (reciprocity, recognition practices), comfort factors (time availability, ICT support) and organisational socialisation factors (social network, trust) and KSB were poorly understood. Moreover, less focus was given to the administrators in the Malaysian public sector organisations. Therefore, to bridge these gaps and to gain new insights, this study aims to examine selected factors that influence KSB and the mediation effect of organisational commitment among the Malaysian public service administrators. The study theorised knowledge sharing using the General Workplace Commitment Model by Meyer and Herscovitch (2001) as the main underpinning theory and has integrated it with Three Component Model of Organisational Commitment (Meyer & Allen, 1991), Self Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) and Social Capital Theory (Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998) to explain Malaysian public service administrators’ KSB. The present study employed a quantitative approach with correlational research design. In addition, it adopted a cross-sectional survey using structured questionnaires in data collection. A number of 231 Administrative and Diplomatic Service (ADS) Officers Grade M44 and above (the respondents) from various ministries/central agency of Malaysian public sector organisations in Putrajaya, the Federal Administrative Centre of Malaysia participated in this study. Their responses were analysed for descriptive statistics to determine the levels of all continuous variables involved in this study. As for the proposed hypotheses, the data were analysed using PLS-SEM. The analysis of descriptive statistic indicated that Malaysian public service administrators actively engage in KSB. The study revealed that intrinsic motivational factors (knowledge self-efficacy, enjoyment in helping others, PSM) are key factors in developing administrators’ affective commitment towards the organisation. Further, it showed that, organisational socialisation factors (trust, social network) are crucial factors in developing administrators’ normative organisational commitment. As a whole, the study found that affective organisational commitment is the key intermediate factor to enable intrinsically motivated administrators to engage in KSB. In addition, it was found that normative organisational commitment is pertinent intermediate factor to enable administrators who are socially connected in a trustworthy environment to engage in KSB

Knowledge sharing is knowledge transfer: a misconception in the literature

Purpose: The paper aims to clearly differentiate knowledge sharing (KS) and knowledge transfer (KT) besides exemplifying their interconnections to minimize the current confusions in the knowledge management (KM) literature. Design/methodology/approach: An extensive literature review method was used to analyse relevant literature on both KS and KT to clearly delineate their differences and their interconnections. Findings: The paper found that KS is a subset of KT (using personalization strategy), whereas KT as a whole is a broader concept, if compared with KS. However, KS is not one of the immediate processes involved in KT (using codification strategy). The processes involved in KS and KT differ according to the strategy used (in KT) and perspective chosen (in KS). Other findings include KS (unidirectional) as reflective concept (viewed so far), whereas KS (bidirectional), KT (personalization) and KT (codification) as formative concepts. Research limitations/implications: The findings of this paper were based on the review of selected relevant articles only. Practical Implications: The paper will minimize the current confusions in the KM literature and will assist future researches on both KS and KT to ensure what these concepts entail to avoid construct underrepresentation. Originality/value: As compared to previous attempts, the present paper has shown the interconnections between KS and KT, as well as the differences based on the two perspectives of KS (unidirectional/bidirectional) and the two strategies of KT (personalization/codification), and such effort is new in the literature

Inculcating knowledge sharing behavior in organization: roles of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations

Despite the importance of knowledge sharing practice, studies indicated that some employees are still reluctant to share knowledge with other colleagues. This have led to inefficiency and fragmentation of services and at times to the extent of service breakdown in organization. Past studies revealed that the major enablers of employee’s knowledge sharing behavior were associated to motivational factors. However, few researches have examined the effect of motivational factors especially intrinsic motivation factors on knowledge sharing. Thus, this study aims to investigate the influence of motivational factors (intrinsic and extrinsic) on employees’ knowledge sharing behavior. Surveys were designed based on established instruments and yielded 231 response from administrators of various managerial grades. The study found that intrinsic motivation factor is an important factor to encourage the development of affective commitment. Administrators who are motivated and committed were most likely to influence knowledge sharing behavior in organization. The conclusion and implications for research and practice are highlighted

Predictors of knowledge sharing behaviour: a proposed model for the Malaysian public sector managers

Limited studies have focused on the factors that influence knowledge sharing behaviour of managers in the Malaysian public service. Moreover, little is known about the predictors of knowledge sharing behaviour, incorporating its two dimensions i.e. knowledge donating and knowledge collecting. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to build a knowledge sharing model among managers in the Malaysian public service. Based on the reviews of relevant knowledge sharing literature and from the lens of Theory of Planned Behaviour and Self-Determination Theory, several factors were found to be potential predictors of manager’s knowledge sharing behaviour. Individual factor (attitude towards knowledge sharing), organisational factor (organisational climate) and resource factors (time availability and ICT support) are important predictors of intention to share knowledge. Intention to share knowledge and intrinsic motivational factors (knowledge self-efficacy and enjoyment in helping others) are important predictors of knowledge sharing behaviour (knowledge donating and knowledge collecting)

Conceptualizing strategic ethical decision making: Cultural traits as moderator

It has turned out that business organizations are forced to deal with a complex business environment. In such cases, recognizing and dealing with ethics, especially in the strategic decision-making process has become an unavoidable circumstance to the organizations. Well documented ethical scandals displaying unethical behaviours in the strategic decision making within the organization can be traced to several decades. From this evaluative viewpoint, plainly the ethical misconducts are basically not tolerable. While there are continuing debates in enlisting factors driving unethical behavior in the organization,strategic decision-making attributes and cultural traits within the organization flagged as a few prominent factors in understanding this phenomenon. Therefore, this study is an attempt to suggest a conceptual framework connecting strategic decision-making attributes and unethical behaviour. In order to improve the predictive validity of the framework, cultural traits are proposed as a moderator in understanding the relationship between strategic decision-making attributes and ethical behaviour. This framework is suggested based on the synthesis of relevant supporting literature underpinned by Deontology Theory. Although this study suffers empirical investigation, it still shed some theoretical direction in understanding unethical behavior among organizations

Exploration and integration of ethical leadership potential dimensions and differential employee voice behaviour - a strategic management perspective

Business ethics has gained great interest due to rising trend of ethical misconducts around the world. While ethics has its impacts at personal, organizational and societal levels, it is regarded as a moral responsibility of various stakeholders including the leaders and also employees. Therefore, a leader is required to demonstrate an ethical leadership while employees should be given an avenue to voice out their ethical concerns as well. Employees may voice out their ethical concerns in the form of suggestion, problem or opinion while the leader should demonstrate their ethical practices through motive, influences and also moral character. In view of this, a theoretical framework is proposed by incorporating these dimensions supported by relevant literature for conceptualization of the research. Direction for future is also provided to validate and improve predictive value of the research model