An Empirical Investigation of Effect of Subjective Norms on Knowledge Sharing: Gender Perspectives
Abstract
Knowledge sharing, among other aspects of knowledge management, has attained special attention in the knowledge economy. To fully grasp the concept researchers have looked into different factors with different perspectives that affect knowledge sharing. However, the extant literature speaks little about the gender perspective in this regard. In this milieu the aim of current research is to empirically look into the effect of a relatively important factor (subjective norms) on knowledge sharing from gender perspective. To empirically test the assumption, data from 244 randomly selected respondents from the target population (University of Peshawar) has been collected through a tested questionnaire. The data was analyzed through structural equation modeling technique. Results of the current research indicated that subjective norms have an important role in enhancing knowledge sharing from both male and female perspectives, as the results were in line with the acceptable ranges for male and female separate and collective models. This showed that male and females both possess positive behavior towards knowledge sharing while considering the Subjective Norms. This paper contributes to the existing knowledge in terms of the application of the theory of reasoned action in the current setup. Organizations, especially academia, are expected to be benefitted from the findings of this research through better understanding of the gender perspective and to set up policies accordingly. In the end, future directions have also been provided.
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