Abstract

In an era where knowledge is extremely valuable, knowledge has become the base of competitive advantage for all business. Many researchers believe that knowledge sharing is the fundamental step for building knowledge or intellectual capital. However, according to the actual participants' experiences, knowledge sharing does not seem to be an easy lesson to learn for organizations. The key factors that influence the willingness of knowledge sharing between members in an organization are the people and the culture existing in an organization, rather than the technology. Nevertheless, only few studies have taken the organizational culture perspective to examine knowledge sharing at organizational level, and these studies usually fail to reach the level where culture's underlying assumptions as well as subtle influences disclose. This research uses Edgar Schein's cultural perspective to study the subtle relationships between corporate culture and knowledge sharing in organizations. By using the case study method, this paper constructs a middle range theoretical model. The result shows that knowledge sharing can only be actualized when there is adequate organizational culture. Without adequate organizational culture, knowledge sharing is extremely difficult to practice even when there is a full support from the top management, a good reward system, and a knowledge sharing platform.