Factors affecting knowledge sharing among governmental employees abroad: Case of a Kuwaiti embassy

Knowledge sharing (KS) is an individual behavior that can be supported and encouraged by systems and processes in organizations to exchange or transfer tacit and explicit knowledge. This paper aims to investigate factors affecting KS among governmental employees abroad and to examine the relationship between factors such as tacit knowledge, explicit knowledge, informal communications, personal disputes, and institutional role on KS among the employees of the Kuwaiti Embassy in Bahrain as an example of one of the Kuwaiti embassies in the world. This study identifies five variables through a review of the literature with positive correlation coefficients that are statically significant at level 0.01, with 99% confidence to support all the factors. The quantitative methods used to gather the primary data and the targeted population consisted of 62 Kuwait Embassy employees. The results indicated that all factors were positively and significantly related to KS in a governmental organization. The findings also show that all the factors significantly affect KS. Future research is needed to study KS; moreover, it would also be interesting to investigate hypothetical differences of the KS between embassy staff, others in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), and those who are in other governmental organizations and private institutions. Factors affecting KS among embassy employees were reviewed to suggest a conceptual model explaining the significance of KS. This paper presents a further clear vision of the factors that affect KS in the embassy. Consequently, management in the MOFA can implement a practical plan to support those factors.

Automated summary

This study investigates factors affecting knowledge sharing (KS) among governmental employees abroad, specifically in the Kuwaiti Embassy in Bahrain. The results show that all identified factors, including tacit knowledge, explicit knowledge, informal communications, personal disputes, and institutional role, have a positive and significant impact on KS in a governmental organization.