Assessing Knowledge Sharing Among Academics: A Validation of the Knowledge Sharing Behavior Scale (KSBS)

BACKGROUND: There is a belief that academics tend to hold on tightly to their knowledge and intellectual resources. However, not much effort has been put into the creation of a valid and reliable instrument to measure knowledge sharing behavior among the academics.

OBJECTIVES: To apply and validate the Knowledge Sharing Behavior Scale (KSBS) as a measure of knowledge sharing behavior within the academic community.

SUBJECTS: Respondents (N = 447) were academics from arts and science streams in 10 local, public universities in Malaysia.

MEASURES: Data were collected using the 28-item KSBS that assessed four dimensions of knowledge sharing behavior namely written contributions, organizational communications, personal interactions, and communities of practice.

RESULTS: The exploratory factor analysis showed that the items loaded on the dimension constructs that they were supposed to represent, thus proving construct validity. A within-factor analysis revealed that each set of items representing their intended dimension loaded on only one construct, therefore establishing convergent validity. All four dimensions were not perfectly correlated with each other or organizational citizenship behavior, thereby proving discriminant validity. However, all four dimensions correlated with organizational commitment, thus confirming predictive validity. Furthermore, all four factors correlated with both tacit and explicit sharing, which confirmed their concurrent validity. All measures also possessed sufficient reliability (α > .70).

CONCLUSION: The KSBS is a valid and reliable instrument that can be used to formally assess the types of knowledge artifacts residing among academics and the degree of knowledge sharing in relation to those artifacts.