Knowledge Sharing Scale
Also known as: Organizational Knowledge Sharing Intention
The Knowledge Sharing Scale (KSS) is an 18-item instrument measuring employee intention to share knowledge and experience within organizations. Developed by Bock, Zmud, Kim, and Lee in 2005, the KSS assesses barriers and enablers of knowledge sharing behavior across six dimensions: perceived usefulness, extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, social norms, organizational climate, and knowledge-sharing intention.
Key highlights
- Comprehensive model captures individual (motivation, perceived usefulness) and organizational (climate, norms) factors influencing knowledge sharing
- Based on social learning and technology acceptance theory, providing strong theoretical foundation
- Identifies specific barriers and enablers, enabling targeted intervention rather than generic knowledge management programs
- Validated across multiple sectors and geographies, demonstrating generalizability
Intuition
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How it works
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When to use it
The KSS is valuable in knowledge management strategy development, organizational transformation assessment, innovation capability evaluation, and change management. Use it to identify knowledge-sharing barriers, assess organizational readiness for knowledge management initiatives, benchmark knowledge-sharing culture against industry, guide interventions to enhance collaboration, and track improvement during knowledge management transformations.
Strengths & limitations
- Comprehensive model captures individual (motivation, perceived usefulness) and organizational (climate, norms) factors influencing knowledge sharing
- Based on social learning and technology acceptance theory, providing strong theoretical foundation
- Identifies specific barriers and enablers, enabling targeted intervention rather than generic knowledge management programs
- Validated across multiple sectors and geographies, demonstrating generalizability
- Self-report method subject to social desirability bias; employees may overstate sharing intention if privacy or competitive concerns exist
- Measures intention rather than actual behavior; intention-behavior gap may be substantial in politically charged environments
- Does not assess knowledge quality or relevance of shared information; volume of sharing does not guarantee valuable knowledge transfer
- Tacit knowledge sharing difficult to assess through surveys; the KSS captures explicit knowledge sharing more reliably
Common pitfalls
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Applications
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Frequently asked
Why do employees often hesitate to share knowledge despite high KSS scores?
The intention-behavior gap emerges when organizational actions contradict culture signals: employees withhold knowledge if they fear being made redundant, if credit for solutions is not shared, or if knowledge is used against them in political conflicts. Closing the gap requires consistent organizational practices, not just culture messaging.
Should knowledge sharing be incentivized or should it emerge organically?
Balanced approach works best: leaders model sharing behavior and recognize knowledge contribution, but avoid formalizing sharing as explicit performance expectation. Extrinsic incentives can motivate initial sharing; sustaining high sharing requires intrinsic motivation and psychological safety.
How does knowledge-sharing culture relate to innovation?
Strong knowledge-sharing cultures facilitate innovation adoption and cross-functional learning but do not guarantee innovation generation. Innovation also requires psychological safety to experiment, tolerance for failure, and clear strategic direction. Knowledge sharing amplifies innovation when these enabling conditions exist.
Sources
- 1.Hau, Y. S., Kim, B., Lee, H., & Kim, Y. G. (2013). The effects of individual motivations and social capital on employees' tacit and explicit knowledge sharing intentions. International Journal of Information Management, 33(3), 356-366.
- 2.Bock, G. W., Zmud, R. W., Kim, Y. G., & Lee, J. N. (2005). Behavioral intention formation in knowledge sharing: Examining the roles of extrinsic motivators, social-psychological forces, and organizational climate. MIS Quarterly, 29(1), 87-111.
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Cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 3). Knowledge Sharing Scale. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/organizational-behavior/knowledge-sharing-scale