Le partage des connaissances dans le milieu académique: enquête dans les universités des Emirats Arabes Unis

Résumé

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the limited previous research on knowledge sharing in universities, by profiling the attitudes of and intentions towards knowledge sharing of united Arab emirates'academics, as an example for the knowledge sharing in the Arab Academy environment, and by profiling their views of some of the factors that might be expected to impact on knowledge sharing activities. A questionnaire‐based survey was used to gather a profile of united Arab emirates academics' attitudes and intentions towards knowledge sharing and related factors, including expected rewards and associations, expected contribution, normative beliefs on knowledge sharing, leadership, structure, autonomy, affiliation to institution, affiliation to discipline, and technology platform. Responses were received from 162 academics in 15 universities. The Respondents had positive attitudes towards knowledge sharing and their intentions in this area were also good. This may be related to their belief that knowledge sharing will improve and extend their relationships with colleagues, and offer opportunities for internal promotion and external appointments, and the role of organizational structure and information technology in knowledge sharing. This study demonstrates that the UAE universities do have an embedded knowledge culture, but that culture is individualistic in nature and to some extent self‐serving and instrumental. This poses interesting challenges for knowledge management in universities.