From ‘Knowledge is Power’ to ‘Voluntary Knowledge Sharing is Power’: Its Relation with Personality Traits and Motivation for Sustainability (Literature Review)

In the global economic environment, Knowledge Sharing Behavior (KSB) is prosperous in Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs). Universities play a role in disseminating knowledge and knowledgeable graduates for society. They face knowledge-based competition, thus, the dissemination of produced and renewed knowledge among academicians is essential. Yet, insufficient efforts were noted among academics in the context of HEIs. Knowledge management (KM) thrives to establish effective and efficient strategies to enhance KSB, however, employees hesitate to share their knowledge. To face this challenge, studies tackled a variety of motivations—intrinsic and extrinsic, that foster KSB in different organizational contexts. The literature showed that when informally volunteering (in the workplace), employees prioritize their time and tasks to share knowledge for the common good. High-valued (for others’ interests) motivation as opposed to low-valued (for self-interests) motivation, is essential for academics as knowledge workers. As such, KSB is considered a social or voluntary activity. An argument in the literature questions why individuals respond differently to KSB and its motivational forces. Noteworthy, there is a consensus among most studies that individual factors are the most influencing contributors to KSB, compared with managerial and technological factors. Personality Traits are considered prerequisites for predicting KSB, and voluntary behaviour as well. In this sense, the literature showed inconclusive and questionable results in examining the effect of personality traits on KSB under the influence of different motivational factors. This could be because personality traits interact differently with motivational forces in disparate contexts. This complex interaction developed the need for more empirical evidence. Another reason could be, the complexity of the interaction of individuals’ personality traits with KSB as a construct with two forms, voluntary (up to their will), and solicited (up to others’ request), where each has different characteristics. There is a need for HEIs in Bahrain to embrace VKSB among academicians. Therefore, there is a need to study academicians’ personality traits’ effect on VKSB. That is, to maintain the Knowledge of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Standards of Bahrain’s HEIs, through personality-based strategies. This is aligned with Bahrain’s ten-year plan objectives-Vision 2030, to position Bahrain as the regional hub for HE. Simultaneously, the vision addresses the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 (SDGs).