Knowledge Sharing Attitudes of Library and Information Science Professionals in Nigeria

Abstract

Knowledge sharing in an organization nowadays has been a strong force toward attaining organizational goals. Library and Information Science (LIS) professionals are at the forefront of information gathering and dissemination, and at such, knowledge sharing among such professionals needs to be investigated.  The study examined the attitudes of LIS professionals in Nigeria toward knowledge sharing; and they comprised the population of the study in this research. The responses were collated through online survey using Google forms; the link was posted on Nigerian Library Association online platform and WhatsApp groups of all the library professionals in Nigeria, given a timeframe of two weeks for data collection.  Descriptive statistics was employed for data analysis. Ninety-four responses were recorded within a space of two weeks.  The results revealed that the attitudes of LIS professionals to knowledge sharing with a grand mean score of 4.5, which indicated positive attitudes. The avenue for knowledge sharing varies significantly from Conferences, Seminars, Face-to-face with social media platforms. Also, years of work experience was found to have significant influence on intrinsic motivational factors to sustain knowledge sharing attitudes of the professionals in library and information science specialty in Nigeria. The second hypothesis was also rejected for the acceptance of the alternative hypothesis that states that extrinsic motivation has significant influence on knowledge sharing attitudes of library and information science professionals in Nigeria. Therefore, the study recommends, among, others that a mentoring programme be established for peer-to-peer and promotion of knowledge sharing should further be strengthened.

Keywords: Extrinsic motivation, Intrinsic motivational factors, Knowledge sharing attitudes, Knowledge sharing, Library and Information Science Professionals, Nigeria.

DOI: 10.7176/IKM/11-1-01

Publication date: January 31^st 2021