Chinese Culture And Knowledge Sharing Through Online Communities Of Practice

The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore how national (Chinese) cultural factors influence knowledge sharing behavior in virtual communities of practice at a large U.S.-based multinational organization. The data in this study come from interviews with the company's employees in China, and managers, who are involved in managing knowledge-sharing initiatives. The results from the above data showed that overall the national cultural influence is less pronounced online than what the literature has suggested. Although Chinese employees' tendency to draw sharp distinction between in-groups and out-groups and the modesty requirements were barriers to knowledge sharing online, the issue of saving face was less important than expected, and attention paid to power and hierarchy seemed to be less critical than what the literature indicated. A surprising finding was that in the initially assumed collectivistic Chinese culture, the high degree of competitiveness among employees and job security concerns seems to override the collectivistic tendencies, and are among the main reasons for knowledge hoarding. The reasons for unexpected findings could be associated with differences between face-to-face and online knowledge sharing environments; the influence of the company's organizational culture; and the recent rapid changes of the overall Chinese cultural patterns.