This study addresses the relationship between knowledge sharing behavior (KSB), innovation (IN) and the
mediating effect of absorptive capacity (AC), using alternative scales to measure KSB. The study is original
because it uses two different scales to measure KSB. One KSB scale relates to the epistemological aspect of
knowledge sharing: tacit and explicit. The other scale regards the involvement of the individual in KSB:
conducting and participating. Data were collected from information technology organizations, involving
248 employees, working in teams. Structural Equation Modeling was used to test the hypotheses. The
results suggest that KSB influences IN and that that influence is partially mediated by AC. The use of different
KSB scales had no effect on the results, which indicates the presence of the relationship regardless
of the way in which the construct is operationalised. Employees seem to engage more in knowledge sharing
participation than in knowledge sharing conduction. The findings also indicate that tacit knowledge is
more widely shared than explicit knowledge.