The relationship between organizational commitment and organizational performance with respect to knowledge sharing (Case study: Selected Project-based organizations)

Abstract

Organizational culture and organizational commitment are of significant impact on the preparation and adoption of new technology systems including knowledge management systems. Appropriate initiatives in knowledge management can considerably affect the improvement of the organizations’ economic capacity and performance. Organizational culture has dramatically impacted on organizational commitment and knowledge management. As a result, organizational cultures have been under consideration in the present study. The research method was of a descriptive type. According to the type of industry and the size of organization, organizational culture was estimated as bureaucratic in three organizations. Then, Quinn organizational culture questionnaire was distributed. According to the results of the questionnaires and short interviews conducted with staffs, the dominant culture in three organizations was realized as bureaucratic. The sample size included 183 employees and a questionnaire containing 29 questions was used. The questionnaire reliability was obtained by Cronbach's alpha coefficients and the questionnaire validity was confirmed with the aid of several experts. The present research studies the relationship between organizational commitment, knowledge sharing, and organizational performance in three organizations with bureaucratic culture. Obviously, different organizations in different countries have different organizational culture. Hence, future studies can extend it into the organizations with different cultures throughout the world. It was figured out that if the cultural grounds are established in the studied organization, the organization will become a learning organization. In such circumstances, employees would have high level of commitment in their organization, feel more conveniently, and can improve organizational performance. The results show that in a bureaucratic culture, employees have little interest in sharing knowledge and little commitment to the organization. In addition, the relationship between organizational commitment, knowledge sharing and organizational performance was confirmed. In other words, the organizational commitment can lead to knowledge sharing and ultimately, it can improve the organizational performance.