FRAMEWORK OF INTRINSIC AND EXTRINSIC MOTIVATORS OF KNOWLEDGE SHARING AND THE ROLE OF PERSONALITY ATTRIBUTES – A CASE OF PETRONAS TRAINING INSTITUTES

Knowledge Management initiatives cannot be successful unless knowledge sharing is
ubiquitous in the organization. As individual is the primary source of knowledge, a
prevalent knowledge sharing is inconceivable without individual’s motivation to share his
knowledge. Hence it becomes imperative to understand what motivates individuals to
share their valuable knowledge. Intrinsic and extrinsic are the two fundamental kinds of
motivation and without understanding the combine effect of them, it is not possible to
fully comprehend individual’s knowledge sharing motivation. Currently, there is a lack of
research work which attempts to understand knowledge sharing from both motivational
perspectives. Apart from extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, individual differences are one
of the most challenging issues facing modern day managers. The literary work in this
area is also considered scarce. Hence the aim of this study is to provide a framework of
extrinsic and intrinsic motivators of knowledge sharing and to analyze individual
differences in knowledge sharing based on demographic variables. For this purpose, a
framework is proposed which incorporates extrinsic rewards, Organization Citizenship
Behavior (OCB) and demographic variables in the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA).
The study has used training institutes of Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS),
namely PERMATA, ALAM and INSTEP, as a case. PETRONAS, one of the largest Oil
and Gas Company in Malaysia, has embarked upon Knowledge Management initiatives.
To make these initiatives successful, the organization is keen to undertake timely and
veracious measures to flourish knowledge sharing in all the divisions of the organization.
One of the major reasons to choose PETRONAS training institutes is the usage and
involvement of IT in these training institutes. The trainers and facilitators at these training
institutes, who are the target respondents of the study, use IT tools for knowledge
sharing, provide IT training and share their IT related knowledge with each other. This
study also measures knowledge sharing using IT tools as well as sharing IT related
knowledge.
The proposed framework will overcome the research gaps in the literature by
reanalyzing the impact of extrinsic rewards, OCB and demographic variables on
knowledge sharing. To test six major and in total nineteen hypotheses, the questionnaire
method was used to gather data from the trainers and facilitators at PETRONAS training
institutes. The data was analyzed by using multi-regression technique. The results have
shown that intrinsic motivation, represented by OCB in this study, is one of the strongest
motivating factors for knowledge sharing behavior, whereas the effect of extrinsic
motivation, represented by extrinsic rewards, on individual’s knowledge sharing intention
is moderate. The results have also shown that individuals differ in manifesting their
knowledge sharing intention into behavior based on their gender and education level,
whereas there is no difference among individuals with different experience level in
manifesting their knowledge sharing intention into behavior. The study will help to
understand individual’s knowledge sharing motivation from intrinsic as well as extrinsic
motivational perspectives and at the same time individual differences in knowledge
sharing behavior. The study will also help the theorists and practitioners, especially at
training institutes of PETRONAS, to develop strategies to foster knowledge sharing in
their respective organizations.
Keywords: Knowledge sharing, Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), extrinsic rewards,
Organization Citizenship Behavior (OCB), Demographic variables