Determinants of knowledge sharing intention in e-learning

Abstract

Knowledge resides within a human being and it is hard to be shared to others. With the proliferation of information and communication technologies, and virtual communities in education, there is an expanded opportunity for the public to be involved in knowledge sharing. However, reluctance to share is one of the main impediments of knowledge sharing. The aim of this thesis is to develop an integrative understanding of the determinants supporting or inhibiting students' knowledge sharing intention in E-learning system. Data were gathered from 583 students who are studying with the E-learning system in Open University Malaysia (OUM) using online questionnaire survey. Semistructured interviews were constructed with 10 participants who are facilitators in Elearning system of OUM as the case study to achieve comprehensible knowledge sharing and understandable intention. The analysis of quantitative data was made using structural equation modeling (SEM) technique and LISREL. Four individual factors namely trust, perceived ease of use, perceive usefulness, educational compatibility as well as four social environment factors such as a friend’s influence, superior influence, self-efficiency, and conditions were used in designing the hypothesis for this study. The outcome analysis showed that there are significant links between individual factors and these also influenced relationship between the social environment determinants. Similar to previous studies, the findings showed positive links between attitude and intention to share, and the subjective norms and perceived behavioural control that influenced intention to share as moderators. The applied model in this study included the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour (DTPB) and harmonized by Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) augmented with individual and social environment factors which have been proven in the study to influence students' knowledge sharing intention within selected E-learning system. This results of the research have provided important theoretical and practical contributions to assist designers and managers facilitate E-knowledge sharing between students