The Impact of Group Relationships on Knowledge Sharing: A Cross-Cultural Study

Abstract

Organizations nowadays typically have several locations geographically dispersed around the world. Organizations distribute their resources around the world to reduce cost and remain competitive. As a consequence, globally distributed working teams are common, thereby rendering a need for knowledge sharing cross-culturally. This chapter presents a series of studies investigating the impact of cultures on how people handle knowledge management issues. It shows how in-group/out-group relationships determine people’s attitudes towards knowledge sharing in a global working environment. Findings of this project would help organizations’ executives understand better how to encourage their members to reap benefits from using the knowledge management systems.