The research problem for this paper can be expressed in form of the following questions:
1. What motivates an organization’s employees to share their knowledge through an
intra-organizational social media platform?
2. What keeps them from sharing knowledge this way?
3. Do these factors differ from those motivational factors regarding knowledge sharing in
general?
The paper approaches the issue from both theoretical and empirical viewpoints. The
motivational factors regarding knowledge sharing in general are summed up from the
literature. The social media platform perspective to the issue is studied by conducting a
survey in two industrial companies. The empirical study reveals what motivates and impedes
the employees of the companies to share knowledge through an intra-organizational social
media platform. The results are discussed in the light of those from earlier research about
general knowledge sharing motivational factors.
Knowing the motivational factors helps companies that are planning to use a social media
platform in knowledge sharing. Moreover, recognition of motivational factors helps to
allocate managerial efforts for nurturing employees’ knowledge sharing motivation in the
right places as well as aids them to pinpoint the possible problem areas, thus enabling them
to avoid the most common pitfalls.