The influence of affective commitment and trust on knowledge sharing in Malaysian universities: a comparison between public and private universities

Knowledge resides within a human being and it is hard to be transferred to others. Unwillingness to share is one of the main impediments of knowledge sharing. In a university setting, this situation could be more alarming as universities are knowledge centric organisation. Knowledge sharing will help universities to strengthen its research and teaching activities. Despite the importance of knowledge sharing, many academics still hoard their knowledge. The aims for this paper are (1) to evaluate the influence of these two emotional factors towards knowledge sharing intention; (2) to examine whether the perception of knowledge sharing in public universities differs from private universities. The research model includes the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and the two affective components. In order to examine the research model, a survey was conducted with a total respondent of 545 academics from 30 universities in Malaysia. Multiple linear regression was used to examine the research model. On the other hand, t-test was used to examine the differences between public and private universities. In general, the findings revealed that emotional influence is crucial for knowledge sharing behaviour. The t-test analysis shows that there are significant differences between public and private universities. This paper contributes to the existing literature by evaluating the impact of emotional factors (affective commitment and affective trust) towards knowledge sharing behaviour. It also provides a greater depth of understanding on how knowledge sharing in public universities deviate from private universities. University administrators need to implement policies and activities to strengthen the emotional bonding between academics in order to facilitate knowledge sharing in Malaysian universities. This is exceptionally crucial for private universities as the results shows that knowledge sharing intention is lower than the public universities.