A quantitative examination to determine if knowledge sharing activities, given the appropriate media richness, lead to knowledge transfer and if implementation factors influence the use of these knowledge sharing activities

The primary purpose of this research was to determine if knowledge sharing activities classified as having low media richness lead to information transfer, and if knowledge sharing activities classified as having high media richness lead to know-how transfer. A secondary purpose of this research was to determine if implementation factors, which shape culture, (i.e., organizational structure, leadership style and compensation systems) influence the use of these knowledge sharing activities.; By merging two streams of literature (knowledge and media richness), the model depicting the knowledge transfer process was developed. If knowledge transfer is important, then it must be done effectively. Given that there are two types of knowledge defined in the conceptual literature, information which can be easily written down and know-how which is hard to communicate and write down, then each type of knowledge would need to be transferred differently in order to be effective. This model shows that know-how and information are transferred effectively through the appropriate choice of media. Specifically, know-how should be transferred with rich media and information should be transferred with less rich media.; The findings of this study provided interesting insights into the knowledge transfer process. One important conclusion is that the type of media used to transfer knowledge is vital to the knowledge transfer process. The results for both the administrative level and the individual hospitals supported media richness theory and the model, for the most part, was upheld. Specifically, know-how transfer should be transferred with rich media and information should be transferred with less rich media. The results also showed that the implementation factors (structure, leadership, and compensation) have little impact at most hospitals.