Knowledge Sharing Factors In Public Sector

The coming of knowledge era raises the important issue ofknowledge management. The accumulation of knowledge in anorganization relies heavily on knowledge sharing. The public sector,especially, needs to increase the level of knowledge sharing betweenemployee to adapt to the change from the outside environment as well aswithin the government. Theory and evidence needs to be provided toexamine the factors that plays important role in knowledge sharing inpublic sector. There is less focus on evidence-based research of this issuein China and further study needs to be conducted.This article defines knowledge sharing as combination of knowledgedonation and knowledge collection and investigates it on four levelsrespectively. First, examine the factors influencing knowledge sharing onindividual level among Chinese public servant, including role recognition,affective commitment to organization and commitment to public interest.Second, examine the factors influencing knowledge sharing onorganizational level, including, trust, power game, sharing opportunityand support from management level. Third, examine the influence of information communication technology on knowledge sharing. Last,examine the correlation between knowledge sharing in public departmentand the increase of level of innovation in public service.After setting up the theoretical framework, evidences were collected,including193pieces of questionnaires and5interviews with publicservants. The following conclusions are reached:1. On individual level: The commitment for public interest have amajor influence on the knowledge sharing of public servants in China,while the influence of the affective commitment is neglectable, whichshows role recognition is the major reason for knowledge sharing amongpublic servant.2. On organizational level: Trust and informal sharing opportunitycan enhance the level of knowledge collection, while power game has alimited effect. The support from the management level can stimulate theknowledge sharing among public servants.3. On ICT （Information Communication Technology） level:Information system provides multi-way for knowledge sharing and ispositively correlated to knowledge sharing and collection. But comparewith factors of other levels, information technology has a minor effect onknowledge sharing.4. Knowledge sharing in public department has a large impact on theinnovation capability of public service, which proves knowledge sharingcould improve innovation capability in different sector.