Factors that motivate hospital nurse middle managers to share knowledge related to boundary spanning roles

As boundary spanners, nurse managers continually facilitate knowledge sharing in their organizations. Yet, little is known about the factors that increase or decrease their motivation to share knowledge or the frequency of knowledge sharing. This study examined the influence of four motivational constructs---task clarity, task difficulty, self-efficacy and managerial support---on hospital nurse middle manager's motivation to share knowledge within their organizations. It was hypothesized that three organizational factors---organizational constraints, cultural barriers to knowledge sharing and arduous relationships---would decrease motivation to share knowledge and the frequency of knowledge sharing. A survey was conducted on a sample of 305 nurse managers in acute care hospitals in Ontario. Correlations among variables were examined. The findings showed that all predictors, except task difficulty, which had a significant and negative effect on study outcomes, significantly influenced the motivation to share knowledge and the frequency of knowledge sharing. Only one organizational barrier, arduous relationships, was negatively and significantly related to the motivation to share knowledge and the frequency of knowledge sharing. In addition, arduous relationships mediated the associations between all independent and dependent variables. It fully mediated relationships between managerial support and both study outcomes and the relationship between task difficulty and the motivation to share knowledge. The direct effects of task specificity, self-efficacy and managerial support have not been clearly established in earlier studies. Therefore, future research is advised to explore these direct effects more closely. Given the extent of literature on the negative effects of barriers to work relationships in organizations, additional research is required to fully explore the impact of deficient work environments and arduous relationships on the motivation and performance of hospital nurse middle managers.