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eLAC 2009

Factors Affecting Teachers' Knowledge Sharing Behaviors and Motivation: System Functions that Work Chun-an Lin 1*, Mei-chi Chen2, 1

Ph. D. Student, Department of Business Education, National Changhua University of Education, Taiwan. 2 Professor, Department of Business Education, National Changhua University of Education, Taiwan.

Abstract The biggest challenge to online knowledge sharing probably lies in people’s willingness to share and their frequency of sharing. Past study showed that teachers and educators acknowledge the advantages of online knowledge sharing within their community. Factors affecting the success of knowledge sharing among teachers appear to be of social aspect; particularly, knowledge self-efficacy, enjoyment in helping others, collective cognitive responsibility, individual outcome expectations and identification-based trust are suggested to be the factors that encourage the motivation and behaviors of knowledge sharing (Kankanhalli et al, 2005; Hsu, et al, 2007; Bandura, 1997; Compeau and Higgins, 1995; Bishop, 2007; Scardamalia, 2002). Therefore, this study looks into these factors and how they should be embodied in online knowledge sharing or knowledge management platforms in order for the teacher community to effectively conduct knowledge sharing. Keywords: e-learning, teachers’ knowledge sharing, motivation factors, education, knowledge management

*Corresponding author: National Changhua University of Education, Taiwan. E-mail: [email protected]

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Factors Affecting Teachers' Knowledge Sharing

Introduction Enterprises and organizations around the world develop and implement information technology of various kinds to enhance the knowledge management mechanism within their organizations. Their goal is laid on improving the quality of knowledge sharing, contributed by their members, through which they learn to have a better understanding about the environment and their members take initial to learn and share knowledge. The cooperation, communication, coordination and even challenge among members stimulate them to learn from one another (Carroll et al, 2003). Schools, like enterprises, develop knowledge from their operation, i.e. the processes of teaching and learning; however, struck by the same challenge encountered by enterprises, schools or learning institutes do not have the necessary capability to manage the generation and diffusion of knowledge within their organizations (Carroll et al, 2003). Petrides & Guiney (2002) described the deficiency of information sharing system in schools as lacking transparency, consolidation and timeliness, thus, emerging the needs for data mining, data warehousing, information management, and knowledge management. Knowledge, itself, is a perplexing concept, difficult to be embodied; especially the tacit knowledge possessed by individuals, it is even more difficult to obtain. There would be methodological issues for those who attempted to exploit and benefit from the tacit knowledge of others, for the notion of knowledge is well hidden within specific social contexts, making it genuinely complex to gain from the tacit knowledge of others (Fernie, 2003). However, educational workers also have the need for knowledge sharing. McAndrew et al (2004) indicated that fellow teachers in their school “want to know what colleagues are currently thinking, what methods and approaches are currently being used; and they want the opportunity to discuss ideas with colleagues across the university. But no one has time to attend workshops or other face-to-face events to facilitate these needs.” In addition, through online knowledge sharing, teachers are allowed to evaluate online resources or to understand how other teachers evaluated similar resources, presenting the following potential advantages, including learning to analyze Websites and online resources, creating a series of Web lists with commentaries, comparing the evaluation and comments made by themselves and others, learning to interact with others, sharing online resources for teaching with colleagues, and so on. Developers receiving feedback from teachers are also benefited from understanding the perception of potential adopters, increasing the awareness of the Websites for people who read the reviews made by teachers (Ravitz & Hoadley, 2005). Knowledge management, from the perspective of practice and policy, may yield support for educational administration and subsequently give support to teaching and learning (Petrides & Guiney, 2002). However, the genuine difficulty of knowledge management lies in how one individual can transfer knowledge to another, when the core of knowledge management is about the process of shifting data to information and then to knowledge. When designing knowledge network for Open University (UK), McAndrew et al (2004) considered three important issues: First, who can contribute knowledge? Second, how will existing knowledge sharing mechanism develop? Third, what can motivate community to participate in knowledge sharing? The answers lie in a series of designing and testing, making it possible for every community member to contribute and publish knowledge. By connecting community and knowledge network, existing knowledge sharing system or mechanism can be sustained; though systems must be equipped with powerful search engine, transferring different types of data and information effectively and efficiently, encouraging active participation and knowledge sharing among community members, with the hope to transform the knowledge culture within and to encourage more sharing. Ravitz & Hoadley (2005) explained why it is necessary to examine digital resources for teaching with a systemic method; it is mainly because relevant stakeholders of teaching resources acknowledge the need for systemic evolution to facilitate effective use of digital resources. Teachers want to search for materials of the highest quality; policymakers and evaluators hope to locate tested and credited programs; developers desire to refine their tools and target right users. When teachers make use of online resources or materials, they not only have to consider the basic quality for the design of online sites, but also have to understand their structure and application, in order to evaluate their overall suitability for teaching and learning. In addition, they need to take into consideration of artifacts of resource use, including student work, project inspiration, lesson plans or rubrics (Ravitz & Hoadley, 2005). It was further indicated that teachers review online resources and give feedback or comments accordingly, providing references to themselves and other teachers, and conforming to the notion of participatory evaluation proposed by Riding, Fowell & Levy (1995). The research conducted by Ravitz & Hoadley in 2005 highlighted the influence of online learning or online knowledge sharing on teacher growth, in the meanwhile, anticipating the network formed by educators and developers to apply and converge on the effects of systematic evaluation.

Research Purpose The biggest challenge to online knowledge sharing probably lies in people’s willingness to share and frequency of sharing. In other words, factors motivating teachers’ knowledge sharing or stimulating their willingness to share can be attributed to social aspect (Ruppel and Harrington 2001). With information technology being the basis of online knowledge creation and sharing, the behaviors and motive of knowledge sharing actually 2

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underscore the interaction from a social and cultural perspective. Past study concluded that factors motivating knowledge sharing include knowledge self-efficacy, enjoyment in helping others, collective cognitive responsibility, individual outcome expectations and identification-based trust (Kankanhalli et al, 2005; Hsu, et al, 2007; Bandura, 1997; Compeau and Higgins, 1995; Bishop, 2007; Scardamalia, 2002). Therefore, this study aims to look into these factors and how they should be embodied in online knowledge sharing or knowledge management platforms in order for the teacher community to effectively conduct knowledge sharing.

Knowledge Sharing Knowledge sharing refers to individuals propagating the knowledge they have acquired and distributing them within organizations (Ryu et al.,2003). In knowledge management systems, the most often observed problem is the low degree of participation for knowledge sharing or shared database use (Kankanhalli et al, 2005). Regardless of the context, being it online conferences or virtual classrooms, individuals often participated passively in information exchange, merely viewing information or data provided by others, rather than contributing them. Accordingly, past research have investigated factors affecting, and even deciding individual’s willingness to share knowledge, including cost and benefit, incentive mechanism, external and intrinsic motivation, organizational climate, and the support from the management (Bock and Kim,2002; Bock et al.,2005; Kankanhalli et al.,2005; Purvis et al.,2001; Wasko and Faraj,2000). In fact, past study has attempted to further examine social and technical obstacles to knowledge sharing system (McDermott 1999; Zack 1999), in order to discover possible advantages exploited from the implementation of knowledge management (Davenport et al. 1998; O'Dell and Grayson 1998). Erikssom & Dickson (2000) concluded four preliminary elements for knowledge sharing: (1) shared knowledge creation process: the process of creating and distributing knowledge; (2) IT (information technology) infrastructure: the system and tools that support information dissemination; (3) catalysts: media that facilitate and promote knowledge sharing; (4) values, standard and procedure: social and cultural values that influence personal mind set. Please refer to Figure 1. Erikssom & Dickson (2000) further pointed out even if the basic infrastructure of information technology serves as the key factor of knowledge creation and sharing, the behavior of sharing actually lies in social and cultural interaction. That is to say, although technical aspects are important, the adoption of refined knowledge management platform or system does not necessarily reinforce knowledge sharing to an effective extent, or stimulate incentive for knowledge sharing (Cross and Baird 2000; McDermott 1999), for social factors are one of the major elements reassuring its success (Ruppel and Harrington 2001).

Figure 1. Four Elements for Knowledge Sharing Source: Erikssom & Dickson (2000)

Factors Affecting Knowledge Sharing Motivation Kankanhalli et al (2005) adopted social exchange theory to verify factors affecting people’s use of electronic knowledge databases, and their research showed that knowledge self-efficacy and enjoyment in helping others have comprehensible impact on knowledge contributors’ use of electronic knowledge databases; in addition, their research results also indicated that the effect of external motivating factors such as reciprocity and organizational rewards on knowledge sharing is constrained by contexts; while internal motivating factors like knowledge self-efficacy and enjoyment in helping others are not limited by contexts. 3

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Self-efficacy refers to people’s perception of their own ability and skills (Bandura 1986). When individuals share with other members their professional knowledge that’s beneficial to their organization, their confidence level is then lifted, and they have more faith in what they are able to achieve, benefiting from enhanced selfefficacy (Constant et al. 1994). Such beliefs drive knowledge contributors to supply more information into knowledge management system (Bock and Kim 2002). When individuals believe in their intrinsic knowledge for solving work-related problems, and they take initial to provide such knowledge, they are said to have knowledge self-efficacy. The notion of self-efficacy is endorsed for knowledge management. Research carried out by Hsu et al (2007) proved that one’s knowledge self-efficacy has a positive influence on knowledge sharing behaviors. In terms of enjoyment in helping others, past study indicated that knowledge contributors gain enjoyment through altruism (Wasko and Faraj 2000), and such enjoyment evolves from helping others (Ba, 2001; Constant et al. 1994). Knowledge owners who feel the enjoyment in helping others are keen to contribute to knowledge sharing or management. Additionally, and very importantly, the influence of enjoyment in helping others is not confined to contexts. Another factor affecting the behaviors and motivation of knowledge sharing is individual outcome expectations, which is claimed to have a positive impact. Outcome expectations is one of the constructs identified by established cognitive-based theories, such as social cognitive theory. It refers to the expected benefits and costs of performing a behavior (Bandura, 1997; Compeau and Higgins, 1995; Lave, 1991). There are three forms of outcome expectations: (1) physical outcome expectations, such as the feelings of pleasantness, pain or uncomfortableness; (2) social outcome expectations, such as social recognition, financial rewards, power, praise and so on; (3) self-evaluative outcome expectations, including self satisfaction, self devaluation and the like (Bandura, 1997). Whatever forms that one may experience, positive outcome expectations serve as great incentive for human behaviors, and then exert a constructive influence on knowledge sharing. In addition, through identification-based trust, it is also possible to predict the behaviors of knowledge sharing (Hsu et al, 2007). Identification-based trust happens when both parties fully understand, agree with, and identify with each other’s needs. Both parties believe that their interests will be guarded and protected, and no supervision is needed. In virtual communities, how organizational members perceive identification-based trust has a positive impact on knowledge sharing behaviors and motivation. Therefore, trust is apparently one of the keys to knowledge sharing among members (Hsu, M. H. et al , 2007). Nelson and Cooprider (1996) investigated the potential effects of knowledge sharing on information technology worker groups, and they found that knowledge sharing is achieved through the mutual trust and influence among organizational members; while the evaluation of mutual trust, i.e. members’ commitment to their organization, is linked with affection factors that help to build identification-based trust. The research conducted by Bishop (2007) proposed the conceptual structure for the participatory situation of online community members, and it concluded the above-mentioned factors affecting individual knowledge sharing behaviors. First, any action or behavior of online community members are inspired by their personal desire, not personal needs. Second, their participatory behaviors or extent are influenced by their own goals, plans, values, beliefs and interests. Whether they act to prove their self-efficacy, or to gain enjoyment in helping others, or to fulfill individual outcome expectations, their desires take lead for their actions, which eventually produce a series of plans which live up to community members’ goals, values and beliefs, and at the same time, these actions would affect their perception on community environment. Therefore, online community managers should try to change members’ beliefs, even if it may not be consistent with individual member’s perception. Collective cognitive responsibility, the collective efforts made by all members for the success of a group rather than the individual responsibility concentrated in the leader, involves a cognitive dimension in modern enterprises, and this dimension along with the more tangible and practical aspects affect the operation of the community. This is even more true to organizations specialized in research or knowledge-output-related work. Collectively, members are responsible for the transfer of knowledge within their organization, with each and every one responsible for cognitive responsibility in order to understand events currently happening and to keep up with any organizational updates (Scardamalia, 2002). Educational workers also have the need for knowledge sharing, as McAndrew et al (2004) pointed out that school teachers like to learn about their colleagues’ opinions and ideas, their methods and approaches, and hope to discuss with others through conferences or workshops, emphasizing the importance of collective cognitive responsibility.

Knowledge Management Structure Knowledge management/sharing system should be equipped with three levels of knowledge flow, from tangible to intangible, including (1) the transfer of tangible resources; (2) the transfer of activity plans; (3) the transfer of material prototypes (Carroll, & et al., 2003). In addition, Carroll et al. (2003) proposed three essential features for knowledge sharing systems. First, the systems should be compelling and easy to use; second, the systems need to provide abounding tools for interactive purpose with which users can write and create; third, the systems should be helpful when users need to locate immediate knowledge for professional purpose, encourag4

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ing the face-to-face interaction among users after they logged out of the system. McAndrew et al (2004) have concluded that the biggest incentive for knowledge sharing lies in the system itself, motivating users to give and take knowledge. An effective system, as he claimed, should include a shared database, a simple user interface, a powerful search engine, as well as rich contents. The biological knowledge management structure designed by Petrides & Guiney (2002) consists of the processes that turn data into information, and information into knowledge among all of the possible information stakeholders (e.g. principal, administration workers, teachers, and students) in a campus. The processes of context, accumulation of data, sense making, synthesis, and reflection make it possible for information to be transformed into knowledge, and such knowledge would be relevant, or even crucial, to educational decision making within a school (Petrides & Guiney, 2002). Muthukumar & Hedberg (2005) developed a framework based on the notion of knowledge spiral proposed by Nonaka & Takeuchi (1995), accounting for the four processes of knowledge spiral: internalization, combination, socialization and externalization. Knowledge management structure is then highlighted on three aspects: collective learning, learning how to learn, and idea facilitation, stressing the concept of online resource other than online discussion, so that users can create functional resources for each other through knowledge management systems. In short, the principles for building a knowledge community is, primarily, to set the goal on member cooperation of deeper levels, and then to learn how to learn, and finally to introduce idea facilitators with Epistemology (Aalst, 2006).

System Design and User Interface for Teachers and Educational Workers Learning communities based on the Internet should qualify the following attributes of effective knowledge sharing and management: (1) individual users are able to learn and construct knowledge spontaneously; (2) members of one community can share ideas and provide information from within; (3) the management of distributed knowledge and expertise should be made possible (Chang, 2003). With the user-oriented interface, the distributive knowledge network of learning community designed by Chang (2003) is featured with functions including account management, identity verification center, bulletin board, counter of online user number, discussion board, course center, bulletin board for learning activities, learning resource browsing and sharing, user profile center, expert consultation, Website resource searching, opinion bulletin board, point accumulation system, Web-based learning record, and system management. These functions are suggested to work with various databases that provide information of the users, experts, Website-resource, and file-resource as well as record of discussion posting, discussion replying, opinion posting, and conferencing. The knowledge management system developed by Carroll et al (2003) for teachers and educational workers is designed to provide a full editor that is capable of delivering functions including chat room, image processing tools, user list, browser and so on, allowing users to make spontaneous and immediate edition to every object within the Web space, only under the circumstances that every edition lives up to the requirements of system safety. Moreover, a collaborative discussion space is available in the system, offering services such as navigation, shared text editor, chat, user list, and editable room description. A collaborative workspace for the system incorporates the following means of application: user list, timeline of document revisions, shared documents and document list, and workspace chat. For the management of explicit knowledge, one possible solution is to adopt an electronic document management system and, in an integrated fashion, to store and configure explicit knowledge. A search engine is suggested to pair up with the system to provide direct link to the input of every available document of explicit knowledge (Amaral & Rozenfeld, 2001). In addition, Websites as well as software like Lotus Notes can be applied to construct space for multimedia storage, in order to effectively accumulate the explicit knowledge of digital form (Muthukumar & Hedberg, 2005; Twining & Rico, 2002). Database plays an important role in knowledge management system, even if it may not be as interesting or fun-prone as other online learning instruments. Nevertheless, when teaming up with a simple user interface, a powerful search engine as well as copious contents, databases can unquestionably work as the most effective knowledge management tool, supporting the independent learning of users. In terms of technological aspects, the stability of system is as crucial as the design of user interface, and the following needs to be concerned: steady server service, stable system software, real-time user support for technical problems, shortened waiting time for Web browsing, user-friendly interface, and easy to access system contents. The user interface of the knowledge management system for teacher communities needs to conform to not only the above-mentioned principles, but also the special demands of the teacher group, and to fulfill these demands through function design. Following are the system functions for the interactive purpose proposed by the current research; please refer to Table 1.

Design Element Voice Message Function

Table 1. Interactive User Interface Design Description Users are allowed to leave voice messages in the system, and have the option of turning the messages into recorded data that is available for other users when necessary. 5

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Conferencing Recording Function Instant Audio/Video Interaction Sketching and Drawing Individual Member Blog Categorized Discussion Board Feedback and Suggestion Search Engine for General Purpose Alerts for Regular Search Results Online Classroom for Practice Teaching

Factors Affecting Teachers' Knowledge Sharing

The conferencing function makes synchronous communication easy through the Internet; with the additional function of video recoding, the video-taped message or information gives users quick access to the records of past discussion. This function provides users with real-time interaction of both audio and video forms, enhancing the effectiveness of their communication. Within the shared Web space of the system, this sketching and drawing function provides users with the convenience of jotting down their ideas or opinions spontaneously and sharing them with other users quickly. Every community member ought to have their own blog for expressing and keeping track of the knowledge they have absorbed. The personal blog serves as the mediating space that transforms implicit knowledge into explicit knowledge. The Web space for categorized discussion topics offers users a space to have free discussion with each other for the topics of their interests as they like. Users make comments, give feedback and provide suggestion for the overall design of the system, helping to eliminate the possible drawbacks of the system. The search engine allows users to locate the information and knowledge they need. Using key words to search for information gives users an immediate access to online resources. After users set key words for information they would like to search, they can set alerts for search results on a regular basis, for which the system would automatically forward search results, responding to the key words, to users regularly, keeping users updated for the information they need. The online classroom provides a platform for practice teachers to demonstrate their teaching skills and experiences with other members through the Internet, and in return they receive feedback and comments from others.

Voice message, conferencing recording and instant audio/video interaction are functions that are adopted to help teachers overcome the constraint of time and space, for they are often limited by their much differentiated schedule which prohibited them from having face-to-face discussion or meetings of physical forms. In addition, audio or video recording gives users the convenience of keeping account of their ideas, concepts or the information/implicit knowledge they have just obtained. Such functions serve to provide means of input for users, consistent with the notion of user controllability. As for functions that support user output, including sketching and drawing, individual member blog, and categorized discussion board, they are spaces for users to express their ideas and disseminate information freely; after reading other members’ blogs or information, users can respond, reply or comment on others’ information using marked commentaries. These output-oriented functions conform to the feedback-harnessing tendency of user interface. Search engine for general purpose and alerts for regular search results collaborating with a shared database that stores abounding information respond well to the concept proposed by McAndrew et al in 2004 that an effective knowledge management system serves to be the strongest incentive for users to conduct knowledge sharing. System log can be applied to observe and record the frequency and number of times that each user logs into the system to use individual function available on the user interface; this is a great way to understand individual user’s needs for the system functions and interface design as well as their appraisal for each utility; moreover, this design along with the mechanism to harvest feedback and comments from users can enhance the overall suitability of the system.

Conclusion The goal of designing and implementing a knowledge management or sharing system could be a challenge that triggers school reforms from top down. Even if the school authorities show determination for initiatives to start top-down reforms, the changes made could be superficial as they only provide the prerequisites for transforming the culture of teaching. In order to really make the reforms work, the adaptation of the system must be deliberately completed by and coordinated with innovations in teachers’ professional practice; particularly when the innovations are peer-driven. Although teachers can be benefited from working together with each other, the culture of knowledge sharing is weak when it comes to the sharing, assessment, and collaboration of professional knowledge. Therefore, effective systemic reforms still require bottom-up changes and innovations among teachers for professional development.

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