Purpose - Knowledge sharing, the most important process in knowledge management, enables knowledge-intensive organizations to foster innovations and to gain competitiveness. Universities, the best contemporary embodiments of knowledge-intensive organizations, nowadays face fiercer competition in the changing world. Knowledge sharing is the key for academic departments to gain competitive advantages through innovation. However, limited studies examined the relationships between top management support, knowledge sharing and affiliation and trust. Based on the literature review, this study developed a research model which aims to examine the relationship between top management support and knowledge sharing, and the mediating role played by affiliation and trust.Design/methodology/approach - A questionnaire survey was conducted in eight universities in Hong Kong. Data gathered from 109 professoriate staff (including chairs, professors and [research] associate/assistant professors) were used to test the four hypotheses in the research model with partial least squares structural equation modeling.Findings - The results showed that top management support has a positive impact on affiliation and trust, and that affiliation and trust also have a positive impact on knowledge sharing. However, this study showed an insignificant linkage between top management support and knowledge sharing. Therefore, this study confirmed the mediating role played by affiliation and trust.Practical implications - Based on the results, this study provided recommendations on how academic management and knowledge management consultants increase the faculty members’ affiliation and trust, for instance, mentoring, performance appraisal system, social interactions and communication pathways.Originality/value - The findings of this study contribute to the literature in two ways. First, affiliation and trust are two interplayed elements of team climate that should be considered together. Second, this study

Purpose - The objective of this study is to investigate the factors of two sub-processes – knowledge donating and knowledge collecting – of knowledge sharing in Hong Kong higher education context. This study examines the individual factors, organizational factors and technology factor of knowledge sharing. Individual factors include enjoyment in helping others and knowledge self-efficacy while organizational factors refer to the top management support, organizational rewards and organizational culture. The use of technology system is proposed to be the technology factor.Design/methodology/approach - Based on the literature review, this study develops a structural model representing the impact of six latent variables on knowledge donating and knowledge collecting processes Data from a questionnaire survey of 166 respondents from academics from Hong Kong higher education sector was used to analyze the model. PLS-SEM was adopted in this study.Findings - The result of the data analysis suggests enjoyment in helping others has a positive impact on both knowledge donating and knowledge collecting. For organizational factors, a trust and collaborative culture enhance both the sub-processes. The technology factor only contributes to the knowledge donating process. Several practical implications are provided to high education leaders, for instance, by establishing a trust and collaborative environment, academics are more eager to donate and collect knowledge.Originality/value - This paper provides insights for researchers to further understand how individual, organizational and technology factors affect two sub-processes of knowledge sharing. On the practical side, this study validated several critical factors to successful knowledge donation and knowledge collection. Copyright © 2020 Emerald Publishing Limited.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between knowledge sharing, absorptive capacity, innovation capability and competitive advantage in Hong Kong Higher Education Industry. A theoretical framework was developed to examine the relationship between knowledge sharing and competitive advantage, mediated by absorptive capacity and innovation capability. A questionnaire was used to survey a randomly selected sample of academics from higher education institutions in Hong Kong. A total of 166 usable responses were received and analysed. PLS‐SEM was utilised to test the hypotheses in the theoretical model. The result exhibits that significant positive relationships were identified between knowledge sharing and absorptive capacity, between absorptive capacity and innovation capability and between innovation capability and competitive advantage. Practically, senior management from higher education institutions should develop strategic measures, especially on knowledge sharing, absorptive capacity and innovation capability, in order to gain competitive advantage. Policymakers could also develop policies to facilitate knowledge sharing among local and regional higher education institutions. This study contributes to existing literature by identifying the significant mediating role of absorptive capacity in the linkage between knowledge sharing and innovation capability and by strengthening the positive association between innovation capability and competitive advantage. 本研究旨在探討香港高等教育界的知識共用，吸收能力，創新能力和競爭優勢之間的關係。本文建立了一個理論框架，以研究吸收能力和創新能力為仲介的知識共用與競爭優勢之間的關係。並以問卷調查的方式收到來自香港高等教育機構的隨機抽取的166份有效問卷。透過PLS-SEM的方法分析檢驗理論模型中的假設，研究結果表明：知識共用與吸收能力之間，吸收能力與創新能力之間，創新能力與競爭優勢之間存在顯著的正向影響關係。本研究提出實踐中的啟示：高等教育機構的高級管理人員應在知識共用，吸收能力和創新能力方面指定戰略設施以獲得競爭優勢。政策制定者還可以制定政策，以促進地方和區域高等教育機構之間的知識共用。這項研究同時確定吸收能力在知識共用與創新能力之間的重要仲介作用，以及通過加強創新能力與競爭優勢之間的正向影響關係，為現有文獻做出了貢獻。 Copyright © 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.