A study of academics’ perceptions of knowledge sharing on teaching and research

Abstract

Knowledge sharing has been found to be beneficial to many organisations and institutions including universities. However, academics’ perceptions and intentions to share knowledge have not been fully understood. Although academics are knowledge workers and naturally familiar with knowledge sharing activities, the increasingly competitive environment and a stronger measured culture in the higher education sector might decrease one’s intention to share knowledge with colleagues. This study aims to investigate academics’ perceptions of knowledge sharing in two core aspects of their work: research and teaching. A mixed method was adopted consisting of semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire survey. Both the qualitative and quantitative data consistently show that all participants enjoyed knowledge sharing with their colleagues in a general sense. Knowledge sharing on good teaching and learning practices was perceived by more participants as important than knowledge sharing on research. However, nearly half of the participants did not feel that their work environment supported knowledge sharing in research or teaching. The results implied that more initiatives would be needed to encourage and recognise knowledge sharing from the university level especially in the teaching and learning aspects.