The Barriers to Knowledge Sharing in a Private Higher Education Institution in Botswana: An Empirical Investigation

Abstract

Africa is fast developing into a knowledge-based economy with knowledge becoming a strategic resource that gives an organisation more competitive advantage than the traditional factors of production, namely land, labour, and capital. It is those organisations that effectively facilitate the movement of knowledge within the organisation to make it easily accessible to all employees who require it at the time it is required that will achieve sustainable competitive advantage and business growth and profitability. This paper, therefore, sought to investigate the barriers militating against effective flow of knowledge in a selected Private Higher Education (PHE) institution in Botswana. The paper adopted the mixed methods research approach to collect data through a questionnaire and interviews. The outcome of the questionnaire was used to determine who the interviewees were to be and what kind of data was to be collected from the interviews. This was meant to corroborate information and clarify issues emanating from a large sample (the questionnaire) by an in-depth study of a smaller sample (interviewing). The study revealed a number of critical barriers to the smooth and fast movement of knowledge in the PHE institution under investigation. These include lack of both formal and informal interaction, inadequate infrastructure to facilitate knowledge sharing, heavy workload for staff, division of staff along nationality lines leading to mistrust, and organisational structure and culture.

Keywords: Knowledge Management, Knowledge sharing, organisational structure, organisational culture, Barriers.