Duration, frequency, and diversity of knowledge contribution: Differential effects of job characteristics

doi:10.1016/j.im.2015.10.009

Information & Management

Volume 53, Issue 4, June 2016, Pages 435-446

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2015.10.009 Get rights and content

Highlights

•
A job knowledge contribution model is proposed.
•
Job characteristics influence the duration, frequency, and diversity of contribution.
•
Job characteristics’ influence is mediated by different knowledge characteristics.
•
Job autonomy moderates the influences of knowledge characteristics on contribution.

Abstract

Although knowledge repositories typically seek to capture the knowledge employees acquire from working on their jobs, little consideration has been given to the influence of job characteristics. This study proposes a job knowledge contribution model that details the influence of different job characteristics on the duration, frequency, and diversity of knowledge contribution through their influences on different knowledge characteristics. The model was assessed with a survey of 255 employees working in knowledge-intensive industries. Identifying the knowledge mechanisms explaining the impact of job characteristics has implications for the theoretical development of knowledge contribution and indicates new directions for research.

Introduction

Since the early days of organizational knowledge management (KM), electronic repositories have been commonly used to collect, organize, and improve accessibility to employees’ knowledge. A recent study of KM in knowledge-intensive organizations highlights that building and maintaining a centralized, searchable repository remains a best practice for supporting knowledge-intensive activities such as product development [1]. Appropriate knowledge repository architecture facilitates the accumulation of knowledge stock and resources, which has been shown to improve organizational efficiency [2]. Nevertheless, much of the success of repositories is predicated on employees’ willingness to contribute their knowledge. If employees do not actively provide content, dissemination and reuse of knowledge in repositories cannot occur and the benefits attainable would be limited [3], [4]. The importance of knowledge contribution has motivated many studies on its antecedents. To date, antecedents identified include those related to cost and benefit considerations, contributor characteristics, social and cultural factors, and system characteristics (e.g., [4], [5], [6], [7]). Although knowledge repositories typically seek to capture employees’ knowledge which is largely acquired from working on their jobs [8], much less consideration has been given to the influence of job characteristics.

The few studies that investigated job characteristics have focused on its relationships with intrinsic and extrinsic motivations (e.g., [9], [10]). They have offered insights into the motivational mechanisms through which job characteristics influence knowledge contribution. However, the potential effects of job characteristics on employees’ knowledge accrual and knowledge contribution (that is, the knowledge mechanisms) have not been explored. To address this gap, this study proposes a model that describes the relationships among job characteristics, knowledge characteristics, and knowledge contribution behavior, while controlling for the influences of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. The proposed job knowledge contribution model conceptualizes knowledge characteristics in terms of perceived value (of knowledge), knowledge renewal, and knowledge breadth to account for the effects of different job characteristics. Overall, the model seeks to enrich our understanding of the effects of job characteristics on knowledge contribution by detailing the underlying knowledge mechanisms.

Depending on their knowledge characteristics, employees may behave differently in knowledge contribution. For example, employees whose knowledge is updated regularly may contribute new submissions to repositories more frequently, while those with a broader range of knowledge may tend to contribute to more different topics or categories of knowledge. Time spent/duration, frequency of contribution, and number of unique contributions/diversity have been commonly used to measure knowledge contribution behavior in previous studies (e.g., [4], [5], [7], [11], [12], [13], [14]). Despite the different measures, the concept of knowledge contribution has mostly been treated as a black box, where different measures are often treated as interchangeable and selected based on practical considerations (e.g., data availability). This poses a challenge to the aggregation of findings across studies for theoretical development, as studies using different conceptualizations cannot be assumed to be comparable [15], and the significance of antecedents may depend on the conceptualization used.

To the extent that an electronic knowledge repository is a type of information system, research on system use lends support to the need to differentiate among conceptualizations. Specifically, the duration and frequency of system use were found to be predicted by different factors, and having a clearer and deeper understanding of system use may facilitate further studies on the different downstream impacts of system use [16]. As knowledge contribution studies accrue and theory development advances, it becomes necessary to open up the black box of knowledge contribution behavior and better understand the different antecedents and theoretical mechanisms underlying the duration, frequency, and diversity of knowledge contribution. To this end, a study that considers all three conceptualizations in the same research setting is warranted, as variance in results across studies may be a consequence of different research settings rather than (or in addition to) different conceptualizations of knowledge contribution. Furthermore, the comparison needs to be grounded on sound theoretical arguments that make clear why the effects are expected to differ across conceptualizations.

For this purpose, this study goes beyond treating duration, frequency, and diversity as interchangeable measures of knowledge contribution behavior to investigating them as theoretical constructs. We not only identify the job characteristics predicting different conceptualizations of knowledge contribution but also identify the knowledge mechanisms by which the effects occurred. In sum, the aims of this paper are to: (1) develop a research model to explain the knowledge mechanisms through which different job characteristics influence the duration, frequency, and diversity of knowledge contribution and (2) statistically assess the proposed research model with empirical data.

Section snippets

Conceptual background

In this section, the concept of knowledge contribution is first defined and reviewed. The key characteristics of a job are then described. This is followed by a discussion of the characteristics of employees’ knowledge that are likely to be influenced by job characteristics.

Research model and hypotheses

In this section, we discuss how different job characteristics relate to the duration, frequency, and diversity of knowledge contribution. In general, job characteristics are expected to influence knowledge contribution through affecting the knowledge of employees. Fig. 1 shows the proposed mediated model. Unlike other job characteristics, job autonomy is expected to moderate the effect of knowledge characteristics on knowledge contribution. The theoretical bases for the impact of each job

Research method

The proposed model was assessed with data collected in a survey. The development of the survey instrument, data collection procedure, and sample demographics are described in this section.

Data analysis

The data were analyzed using partial least squares (PLS) regression. PLS was chosen over ordinary least squares regression because it allows the simultaneous assessment of the measurement structure and causal paths (in terms of measurement model and structural model). In addition, PLS is able to model causal sequence, which is necessary for testing our mediation hypotheses [61]. Given the presence of a formative construct in our model (i.e., extrinsic motivation, which is a control variable),

Discussion of findings and implications

This study developed and empirically assessed a research model that describes the knowledge mechanisms through which different job characteristics influence the duration, frequency, and diversity of employees’ knowledge contribution. Understanding the effects of job characteristics is relevant and important as employees acquire much valuable knowledge, while working on their jobs and capturing this knowledge is the main goal of knowledge repositories. This is one of the earliest studies to

References (77)

S.M. Miranda et al.
Stocks and flows underlying organizations’ knowledge management capability: synergistic versus contingent complementarities over time
Inf. Manag.
(2011)
W. He et al.
What drives continued knowledge sharing? An investigation of knowledge-contribution and -seeking beliefs
Decis. Support Syst.
(2009)
W.R. King et al.
Motivating knowledge sharing through a knowledge management system
OMEGA: Int. J. Manag. Sci.
(2008)
J.R. Hackman et al.
Motivation through the design of work: test of a theory
Organ. Behav. Hum. Perform.
(1976)
F. Anseel et al.
Reflection as a strategy to enhance task performance after feedback
Organ. Behav. Hum. Decis. Process.
(2009)
D.P. Lepak et al.
Examining the human resource architecture: the relationships among human capital, employment, and human resource configurations
J. Manag.
(2002)
T.-C. Lin et al.
Withholding effort in knowledge contribution: the role of social exchange and social cognitive on project teams
Inf. Manag.
(2010)
G. Rong et al.
Keeping up-to-date with information technology: testing a model of technological knowledge renewal effectiveness for IT professionals
Inf. Manag.
(2009)
U. Cress et al.
Improving quality and quantity of contributions: two models for promoting knowledge exchange with shared databases
Comput. Educ.
(2007)
S.E. Jackson et al.
A meta-analysis and conceptual critique of research on role ambiguity and role conflict in work settings
Organ. Behav. Hum. Decis. Process.
(1985)

J.-T. Yang

Qualitative knowledge capturing and organizational learning: two case studies in Taiwan hotels

Tour. Manag.

(2004)

M.-H. Hsu et al.

Knowledge sharing behavior in virtual communities: the relationship between trust, self-efficacy, and outcome expectations

Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud.

(2007)

APQC

Improving the Flow of Knowledge in Product Development

(2012)

M. Huang et al.

Why do group members provide information to digital knowledge repositories? A multilevel application of transactive memory theory

J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci. Technol.

(2013)

A. Kankanhalli et al.

Contributing knowledge to electronic knowledge repositories: an empirical investigation

MIS Q.

(2005)

R.M. Muller et al.

The influence of incentives and culture on knowledge sharing

S. Watson et al.

A multi-theoretical model of knowledge transfer in organizations: determinants of knowledge contribution and knowledge reuse

J. Manag. Stud.

(2006)

F.L. Schmidt et al.

Impact of job experience and ability on job knowledge, work sample performance, and supervisory ratings of job performance

J. Appl. Psychol.

(1986)

N.J. Foss et al.

Encouraging knowledge sharing among employees: how job design matters

Hum. Resour. Manag.

(2009)

L. Pee

Encouraging knowledge contribution to electronic repositories: the roles of rewards and job design

A. Durcikova et al.

Influence of system, environment, and procedures on knowledge submission frequency

A. Durcikova et al.

How knowledge validation processes affect knowledge contribution

JMIS

(2009)

M. Raman et al.

Designing knowledge management systems for teaching and learning with wiki technology

J. Inf. Syst. Educ.

(2005)

J.S. Bunderson et al.

Comparing alternative conceptualizations of functional diversity in management teams: process and performance effects

Acad. Manag. J.

(2002)

V. Venkatesh et al.

Predicting different conceptualizations of system use: the competing roles of behavioral intention, facilitating conditions, and behavioral expectation

MIS Q.

(2008)

A. Majchrzak et al.

The impact of shaping on knowledge reuse for organizational improvement with Wikis

MIS Q.

(2013)

D. Yates et al.

Factors affecting shapers of organizational Wikis

J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci. Technol.

(2010)

T. Chung et al.

Knowledge refinement effectiveness

J. Kim

Motivating and impeding factors affecting faculty contribution to institutional repositories

J. Digit. Inf.

(2007)

M.M. Wasko et al.

Why should i share? Examining social capital and knowledge contribution in electronic networks of practice

MIS Q.

(2005)

D.G. Ancona et al.

Taking time to integrate temporal research

Acad. Manag. Rev.

(2001)

P.H. Gray et al.

The role of knowledge repositories in technical support environments: speed versus learning in user performance

JMIS

(2005/2006)

G.C. Moore et al.

Integrating diffusion of innovations and theory of reasoned action models to predict utilization of information technology by end-users

Diffusion and Adoption of Information Technology

(1996)

R.L. Thompson et al.

Personal computing: toward a conceptual model of utilization

MIS Q.

(1991)

F.P. Morgeson et al.

The Work Design Questionnaire (W.D.Q.): developing and validating a comprehensive measure for assessing job design and the nature of work

J. Appl. Psychol.

(2006)

A.M. Grant

Giving time, time after time: work design and sustained employee participation in corporate volunteering

Acad. Manag. Rev.

(2012)

N. Nair et al.

An exploration of factors predicting work alienation of knowledge workers

Manag. Decis.

(2010)

R.E. de Vries et al.

Explaining knowledge sharing

Commun. Res.

(2006)

Cited by (15)

Involving online community customers in product innovation: The double-edged sword effect
2023, Technovation
Existing research in the field of business has generated differing views on the relationship between customer involvement and firms' product innovation. Drawing from their findings, some researchers have presented a positive assessment of customers' utility in product innovation, while others have provided a nonsignificant or even negative assessment of customers' usefulness in this area. This paper reconciles these different views by demonstrating that there exists a nonlinear relationship between customer involvement and firms' product innovation performance. To arrive at this conclusion, we use survey data from Chinese manufacturing firms and their online community customers, as well as objective data from the Chinese technology firm Xiaomi, to empirically test our hypothesized nonlinear relationship theory. The results of analyzing the two datasets demonstrate that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between online customer involvement and firms' product innovation performance. Additionally, we find that customer online community affiliation moderates this relationship; specifically, for low or moderate levels of customer involvement, customer online community affiliation strengthens the positive online customer involvement–product innovation performance relationship, while for high levels of customer involvement, such customer affiliation weakens the positive impact of online customer involvement on firms' product innovation performance. Furthermore, we also show that the factor “customer online knowledge contribution” mediates the relationship between customer involvement and product innovation performance. Overall, this study provides new empirically-supported insights into the impacts of customer involvement and the contribution of customer knowledge through online communities on firms’ product innovation performance, thereby adding significant findings to the literature, as well as offering practical implications to firms regarding how they can best involve online customers in product innovation to achieve the most effective performance.
How the type and valence of feedback information influence volunteers’ knowledge contribution in citizen science projects
2021, Information Processing and Management
Citation Excerpt :
Furthermore, it contributes to volunteers’ knowledge contribution literature by examining the relationship between volunteers’ subjective knowledge contribution perception and actual behavior in citizen science. Prior research has used objective measures (Tsai & Bagozzi, 2014; Wasko & Faraj, 2005) or subjective scales to assess knowledge contribution (Ma & Agarwal, 2007; Pee & Chua, 2016), but limited research has explored the relationships between the subjective and objective measures of knowledge contribution. Especially in the context of citizen science, although scholars have suggested volunteers are a population with great potentials to contribute to high-quality scientific data, not much research has been done to uncover what mechanism could be established to guide this process.
Citizen science involves non-expert volunteers collaborating to investigate scientific problems. Volunteers’ knowledge contribution is a key premise to the success of citizen science projects. Despite previous research on the type and valence of feedback information, little is known about the main and interactive effects of these two facets of feedback information on volunteers’ knowledge contribution. This study draws on achievement goal theory and hypothesizes how the type and valence of feedback information influence volunteers’ motivations and knowledge contribution. We conducted a three (information type: task, self, and social) by two (information valence: positive and negative) between-subjects experiment with 290 participants to test the proposed research hypotheses. The results suggest task, self, and social feedback had varying impacts on volunteers’ intrinsic motivation (i.e., perceived enjoyment, perceived meaning, and self-expansion). The impact of feedback information type differed by feedback information valence. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis showed perceived enjoyment, perceived meaning, and self-expansion positively influenced volunteers’ knowledge contribution (perception and performance). The analysis results demonstrated knowledge contribution perception was a mediator between intrinsic motivation and knowledge contribution performance in the domain of citizen science. Our research contributes to the theoretical advancement of applying feedback information in citizen science and provides practical guidelines for human-information interaction design in future citizen science projects.
Big data analytics for sustainable cities: An information triangulation study of hazardous materials transportation
2021, Journal of Business Research
Citation Excerpt :
These roles are responsible for different parts of the information triangulation process. One particular role is data interpreter, who constitute a key bridge between multiple fields and are good at translating different types of professional knowledge into forms of expression that can be understood by other experts (Pee & Chua, 2016). Enterprises should pay attention to the arrangement and allocation of these core GC project members.
Big data analytics (BDA) is regarded as an advanced tool for achieving sustainable development as part of the grand challenges (GCs). However, it is not clear how BDA can be used by data scientists to solve the GCs with multisource data in a cross-disciplinary approach. Based on a case study of city-based dangerous goods transportation (DGT), this paper explores how data scientists use BDA to triangulate data, methods, knowledge and solutions for solving GCs. The contribution of this study is threefold: (1) it contributes to research on GCs and discusses how BDA can be used in problem solving for multidomain GCs from a management perspective; (2) it enriches the theory of information triangulation and proposes several steps for information triangulation in BDA to solve GCs; and (3) it contributes some practical implications for the management of organizations when solving social problems and pursuing sustainable development.
Craftsmanship spirit or professionalism: The impetus of barefoot social workers to complete their task identity for protecting disadvantaged children in China
2020, Children and Youth Services Review
Barefoot social workers that are engaged in child protection have been widely recognized, and the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs promoted them nationwide in 2019. Although several discussions have been held on the topic of rural child protection in China, little attention has been paid to barefoot social workers. Thus, we developed a “craftsmanship model”, based on a conceptual exploratory model of barefoot social workers’ task identity. Adopting data from a nationwide survey collected in China in 2018, we studied 756 barefoot social workers that were engaged in child protection. A two-step process analysis was employed. First, we built a structural equation model and examined the direct and indirect relationships between the social workers’ conscientiousness and professional competency and their task identity. Second, we tested moderating effects by using two multiple-group analyses of the workers’ working patterns and levels of training matching. Results confirmed the key role of conscientiousness, and only community work competency played a partial mediating role in the relationship between barefoot social workers’ conscientiousness and their task identity. Furthermore, working patterns and the levels of training matching acted as two moderators in the model. This study used a craftsmanship spirit model to increase the understanding of the relationships between barefoot social workers’ conscientiousness and competency and their task identity. The findings point to the need for further development of the workforce of barefoot social workers to serve as a national grassroots safety net for disadvantaged children and also call for combining workers’ craftsmanship and professionalism, developing greater case management competencies, and emphasizing values guidance and training matching.
Affordances for sharing domain-specific and complex knowledge on enterprise social media
2018, International Journal of Information Management
Many organizations have implemented enterprise social media (ESM) to better connect employees and promote knowledge sharing. Prior studies indicate that employees often use ESM to access knowledge in other domains or complex knowledge. But connecting employees is only part of the picture – while ESM offer the possibility of accessing domain specific and complex knowledge, the flow of such knowledge might remain inhibited by the perceived effort required to codify them for sharing. This study identifies salient ESM affordances that can alleviate the perceived effort of sharing domain-specific and complex knowledge. Results of a survey of 303 employees working in organizations using ESM indicate that domain-specific knowledge is perceived as less effortful to codify when the affordance of visibility is strong (i.e., the affordance negatively moderates the positive relationship between knowledge specificity and perceived codification effort), and complex knowledge is perceived as less effortful to codify when the affordances of association and editability are strong. These findings indicate that it is necessary to consider both knowledge attributes and ESM affordances and their interactions when understanding knowledge sharing using ESM.
A psychological empowerment approach to online knowledge sharing
2017, Computers in Human Behavior
Citation Excerpt :
These types of motivation can lead to people's proactive behavior but cannot promote it, unlike active motivation. Pee and Chua (2016) examined the direct effect of job characteristics on contributing relevant knowledge in terms of duration, frequency, and diversity. Although these earlier studies contributed substantially to our understanding of job characteristics in knowledge sharing, our study investigated the previously unexplored area of the effect of job characteristics on psychological empowerment in users' proactive behavior to share knowledge.
The success of a knowledge management system (KMS) depends on knowledge sharing. Previous research has claimed that motivational factors can facilitate successful knowledge sharing as a proactive behavior. However, little research has examined what motivators lead to proactive knowledge sharing. By integrating a psychological empowerment perspective with job characteristics theory, this study examines the role of KMS user empowerment, as a specific type of psychological empowerment, in motivating this proactivity to explain employee knowledge-sharing behavior (i.e., contribution and seeking). The findings explain that KMS user empowerment is significantly associated with knowledge sharing, and the work environment (job significance, job autonomy, ease of KMS use, and KMS usefulness) enhances KMS user empowerment. This study contributes to KM research by introducing the concept of KMS user empowerment and demonstrating its role in regulating the proactive knowledge sharing. It also helps managers to promote knowledge sharing among employees in the context of KMS use.

View all citing articles on Scopus

L.G. Pee obtained her Ph.D. in information systems and bachelor of computing from the National University of Singapore. Her research focuses on knowledge management in organizations and online communities. Her works have been published in journals such as Information & Management, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, and Journal of the Association for Information Systems. She has participated in academic conferences such as International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) and Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS) as a presenter, associate editor, and track cochair. One of Dr. Pee's knowledge management (KM) studies was selected for the Best Paper Award in PACIS 2010. She also received the science award by NTT Docomo's Mobile Communication Fund in 2013.

A.Y.K. Chua is an associate professor at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University. His research interests lie in information science and knowledge management. As an active scholar, he has published in excess of 90 peer-reviewed journals and conference papers. He also serves on the editorial board of several peer-reviewed journals. He holds a doctorate in business administration, a master's in education and a bachelor's in computer science.

¹: Tel.: +65 6790 4579.

View full text

Duration, frequency, and diversity of knowledge contribution: Differential effects of job characteristics

Highlights

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Conceptual background

Research model and hypotheses

Research method

Data analysis

Discussion of findings and implications

Inf. Manag.

Decis. Support Syst.

OMEGA: Int. J. Manag. Sci.

Organ. Behav. Hum. Perform.

Organ. Behav. Hum. Decis. Process.

J. Manag.

Inf. Manag.

Inf. Manag.

Comput. Educ.

Organ. Behav. Hum. Decis. Process.

Tour. Manag.

Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud.

Improving the Flow of Knowledge in Product Development

Why do group members provide information to digital knowledge repositories? A multilevel application of transactive memory theory

J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci. Technol.

Contributing knowledge to electronic knowledge repositories: an empirical investigation

MIS Q.

The influence of incentives and culture on knowledge sharing

A multi-theoretical model of knowledge transfer in organizations: determinants of knowledge contribution and knowledge reuse

J. Manag. Stud.

Impact of job experience and ability on job knowledge, work sample performance, and supervisory ratings of job performance

J. Appl. Psychol.

Encouraging knowledge sharing among employees: how job design matters

Hum. Resour. Manag.

Encouraging knowledge contribution to electronic repositories: the roles of rewards and job design

Influence of system, environment, and procedures on knowledge submission frequency

How knowledge validation processes affect knowledge contribution

JMIS

Designing knowledge management systems for teaching and learning with wiki technology

J. Inf. Syst. Educ.

Comparing alternative conceptualizations of functional diversity in management teams: process and performance effects

Acad. Manag. J.

Predicting different conceptualizations of system use: the competing roles of behavioral intention, facilitating conditions, and behavioral expectation

MIS Q.

The impact of shaping on knowledge reuse for organizational improvement with Wikis

MIS Q.

Factors affecting shapers of organizational Wikis

J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci. Technol.

Knowledge refinement effectiveness

Motivating and impeding factors affecting faculty contribution to institutional repositories

J. Digit. Inf.

Why should i share? Examining social capital and knowledge contribution in electronic networks of practice

MIS Q.

Taking time to integrate temporal research

Acad. Manag. Rev.

The role of knowledge repositories in technical support environments: speed versus learning in user performance

JMIS

Integrating diffusion of innovations and theory of reasoned action models to predict utilization of information technology by end-users

Diffusion and Adoption of Information Technology

Personal computing: toward a conceptual model of utilization

MIS Q.

The Work Design Questionnaire (W.D.Q.): developing and validating a comprehensive measure for assessing job design and the nature of work

J. Appl. Psychol.

Giving time, time after time: work design and sustained employee participation in corporate volunteering

Acad. Manag. Rev.

An exploration of factors predicting work alienation of knowledge workers

Manag. Decis.

Explaining knowledge sharing

Commun. Res.