Research Article
The Effect of Organizational Justice on Members' Knowledge Sharing
Published: January 2011 · Vol. 40, No. 2 · pp. 485-521
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Abstract
In the knowledge-based competitive society, many organizations are making significant efforts to create new knowledge and secure competitive advantage based on it. One of the core elements of such knowledge management is inducing members to share their knowledge with other members. This study applied fairness heuristic theory, recognizing that perceptions of fairness can reduce the dilemma associated with knowledge sharing, and examined the effects of fairness on members' knowledge sharing. In particular, while a small number of prior studies on organizational justice and knowledge sharing have partially examined the effects of distributive and procedural justice, the effects of interactional justice (interpersonal justice and informational justice) have not been tested. Accordingly, this study examined the effects of interactional justice (interpersonal justice and informational justice) on knowledge sharing along with distributive and procedural justice. While interactional justice by supervisors (interpersonal justice and informational justice) may directly influence members' knowledge sharing, it can also function as a catalyst that may reduce or increase the effects of distributive and procedural justice; thus, interaction effects of interactional justice (interpersonal justice and informational justice) in the relationships between distributive and procedural justice and knowledge sharing could also be anticipated. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to jointly test the direct effects of interactional justice (interpersonal justice and informational justice) along with distributive and procedural justice, as well as their interaction effects. The results showed that positive relationships (+) were found between distributive justice, interpersonal justice, and knowledge sharing, while procedural justice and informational justice did not show significant relationships. Furthermore, the interaction effects of interactional justice (interpersonal justice and informational justice) were significant in the relationship between distributive justice and knowledge sharing, but the results for the relationship between procedural justice and knowledge sharing were contrary to expectations. The implications of this study can be summarized in three major points. First, as a theoretical implication, this study explained the relationship between organizational justice and knowledge sharing by approaching knowledge sharing from the perspective of a social dilemma and applying fairness heuristic theory. Second, the study tested the direct effects and interaction effects of interactional justice (interpersonal justice and informational justice) with distributive and procedural justice, which had not been addressed in prior research on organizational justice and knowledge sharing. Third, as a practical implication, the study confirmed the importance of not only distributive and procedural justice implemented by the organization but also interactional justice (interpersonal justice and informational justice) exercised by supervisors in promoting knowledge sharing among organizational members.
