A mixed method exploration of characteristics of federal government employees and their knowledge sharing preferences.

摘要

According to the behavioral engineering model, managing knowledge is critical to the success of a business. Knowledge management strategies are failing in many organizations. The future of human performance technology lies in the advancement of research that addresses the performance issues resulting from knowledge sharing gaps. By exploring the constructs involved in the field of knowledge management, human performance technology practitioners can be better equipped to confront these challenges and to achieve excellent performance in organizations. This study examined the associations between the ages, professional groups and knowledge sharing preferences of federal government civilian employees. The research method used was mixed methodology. Quantitatively aggregated data collected via a preference-ranking instrument as well as a qualitative follow-up interview described the project's results. The quantitative data was analyzed using the chi-squared test. The critical incident technique structure was concomitantly implemented to analyze qualitative data. The results were not statistically significant to establish association among the variables. However, association was found between age groups and sharing knowledge through on-the-job training. Federal government service employees, spanning all ages and professional groups, associate knowledge sharing with face-to-face interactions. The results suggested that human performance technology interventions designed to address knowledge sharing gaps in federal government organizations would be effective when facilitating face-to-face interactions among employees. Future studies in the area of knowledge sharing will benefit from exploring human performance technology interventions in specific work settings with carefully selected participants to ensure the equal representation of all groups. The research results had been consistent with the literature. The majority of federal government employees are at the age of retirement and effectively sharing tacit knowledge is one of the barriers in overcoming the mass retirement issue. The results contribute to human performance technology practitioners by suggesting how best to address knowledge sharing performance gaps by establishing that the performers prefer to share knowledge face-to-face in federal government organizations. This study has filled the gap in the literature referring to different age and professional group preferences during knowledge sharing with others in federal organizations.