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reward to have an effect on the willingness to share information. Based on the presence or absence of
cash reward, the following hypothesis is stated.
H4 Participants will be more likely to share information when cash rewards are given
As discussed above, there is some indication there may be differences between Chilean and Mexican
cultures. According to Hofstede’s scores, Chile is more collectivist than Mexico and therefore we
hypothesize that:
H5 Chileans will be more likely to share information than Mexicans
Past research has also demonstrated that personal characteristics such as an “enjoyment in helping
others” (Kankanhalli, Tan, & Wei, 2005) and positive attitudes toward sharing (Bock, Zmud, Kim, & Lee,
2005) have an effect on the willingness to share information. That is, some people might be more
personally inclined to share information than others. In addition, people might share information
because they look for intangible benefits. “Knowledge contributors can benefit from showing others
that they possess valuable expertise” (Kankanhalli et al., 2005, p. 121). Other personal characteristics
influencing knowledge sharing identified by Vera-Muñoz et al (2006) in their extensive literature review
are: locus of control, knowledge, ability, motivation, and organizational commitment.
Research method
We conducted an experiment to study the willingness to share information. An experimental approach
represents a trade-off between determining causality in laboratory settings versus studying a
phenomenon in real settings. We favored an experimental approach in the present study to avoid
confounding factors due to the presence of organizational characteristics and to enhance the visibility of
cultural effects. In the present experiment, participants were given a hypothetical business scenario and
were asked about their willingness to share the information in a hypothetical KMS setting.
Past research on knowledge sharing has identified organizational culture as a factor influencing the
willingness to share knowledge (Chow et al., 2000; De Long & Fahey, 2000). Studies conducted on
organizations where knowledge sharing is promoted would be more likely to show positive results for
knowledge sharing than studies on organizations that does not promote it. Therefore, individuals’
willingness to share information would be confounded with the organizational culture.
In addition, there are situational characteristics that moderate the impact of culture (Leung, Bhagat,
Buchan, Erez, & Gibson, 2005). Two possible moderators that might introduce confounding factors if
participants were drawn from real settings where KMS are used are: technological uncertainty and
tenure in the company. Past research has demonstrated that “when task technology is ambiguous,
culture is more likely to be the default. Thus technological uncertainty amplifies the impact of culture on
individual perceptions” (Leung et al., 2005, p. 369). Therefore, participants who are familiar with a
particular KMS might draw less on their cultural background than participants unfamiliar with the KMS,
introducing a confounding factor. Tenure in the company can also introduce a confounding factor to
Convention