Review of knowledge sharing: conceptual foundations for microlevel sharing and readiness for change related behaviours

Abstract

In the organisational change and knowledge sharing literature, recognition of high failures of change efforts is said to be associated to the organisations lack of understanding of how to manage readiness for change. In this paper, the case for change readiness is invoked by a need for further explanation of micro level foundations. A survey of 105 scholarly academic journals in the area of knowledge sharing research from 1994 to 2009 with keywords salient to knowledge sharing studies was conducted to explore current thinking about organisational change issues. The findings reveal that there is yet no well-established method or clear conceptual definition to exploring the phenomena of change for knowledge sharing on both individual and organisational levels. Based on the literature survey a model is proposed to integrate the relevant themes that influence knowledge readiness. A discussion is presented, demonstrating future directions towards knowledge sharing for micro-level knowledge sharing and readiness for change related behaviours.