New model for encouraging academic staff in Saudi universities to use IT for knowledge sharing to improve scholarly publication performance

Abstract

Research and development are central to national and civilizational advances. Research and development in any nation are measured according to research outcomes, such as publications. Publications are becoming the primary source for evaluating academic staff and academic institutions. Knowledge is the most important resource in universities. Useful knowledge can improve the performance of workers in the organization. Knowledge sharing, or the exchange of information between workers, is important for academics and practitioners. Knowledge acquisition, knowledge sharing and knowledge utilization are three types of knowledge management. Higher education in Saudi Arabia seeks to enhance scientific research as a key component of developing the nation and its universities. In recent years, higher education in Saudi Arabia has initiated multiple projects on enhancing the research productivity of academic staff in Saudi universities. Saudi higher education is seeking to automate all research activities to enhance research performance. This study examines the impact of using knowledge sharing to improve scholarly publications from academic staff in Saudi universities. In addition, this research identifies the factors that lead to enhanced levels of knowledge sharing in Saudi universities. The researchers interviewed 22 academic staff from Taibah University and reviewed papers and academic institutions’ websites to identify the important indicators for measuring research productivity. Responses to an online questionnaire from 374 academic staff in Saudi universities were used to determine the relation between knowledge sharing and scholarly publication and to examine the factors that enhance knowledge sharing in Saudi universities. This study used SmartPLS to analyse the results. The results show that computer-mediated communication and nature of knowledge are the primary factors that positively affect knowledge sharing in Saudi universities, and scholarly publications are the primary indicator for measuring research productivity. In addition, knowledge sharing and computer-mediated communication significantly enhance research productivity at Saudi universities.