A knowledge sharing initiative is a long term process that necessitates significant changes for the organisation to constantly adapt to new challenges. Many of these initiatives are commonly associated with technologies or organisational level (macro-level) factors to drive change. Such initiatives require that individuals are ready to commit to new ways of doing things. However, a large proportion of knowledge sharing initiatives are often considered a failure, partially because individuals do not accept or embrace the change. This presents a unique challenge for organisations implementing knowledge sharing initiatives to understand factors that may influence individuals’ readiness for change. Despite a significant number of theories and models, the individual’s views and experiences on factors that affect their readiness-for change have rarely been studied. Moreover, little research in knowledge sharing builds upon existing theories and models of organisational change. The study integrates three areas of research, readiness-for change, organisational change, and knowledge sharing to provide an integrated view of knowledge sharing initiatives in an organisation. The research investigates the individuals’ readiness-for change by studying organisational knowledge sharing initiatives from a micro-foundational perspective, in particular, the various influential factors affecting an individual’s readiness-for change. In doing so, the inhibitors and supporting factors of an individual’s readiness-for change have been investigated. In addition, this research deviates from previous quantitative studies that developed theories on readiness-for change. To understand the various interpretations, meanings, and patterns of the different influential factors supporting or inhibiting an individuals’ readiness-for change, necessitates an exploratory grounded theory approach, to analyse the participants' experiences and views regarding the factors affecting their readiness-for change during knowledge sharing initiatives. Findings support the view that while macro-level factors such as organisational structure and technology can contribute to the success or failure of knowledge sharing initiatives, the underlying factors related to individuals readiness-for change (at the micro-level) is integral to understanding the sources or origins of these failures and successes. In addition, awareness of change and communication within knowledge sharing initiatives, are highlighted as two of the key influential factors effecting change at the individual (micro) level. Finally, the research provides an individual readiness-for change model that fills an important gap in the knowledge sharing literature, by addressing the micro-foundations (sources or origins of change) of individuals’ change behaviours which have not previously been explored.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:634037 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Samara, Khalid |
| Publisher | London South Bank University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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