Social capital and knowledge sharing in the public sector

Abstract

This research proposes and validates a model hypothesizing the relationships between social capital and knowledge sharing in the public sector. We employed a survey design using a questionnaire to collect data utilizing a convenient sampling method. The study gathered 389 questionnaires from civil servants and officials working in departments and agencies in the public sector in Tien Giang province. The research hypotheses were developed and validated using the structural model modeling (SEM) approach. The research results show that all hypothesized relationships were confirmed except the link between structural social capital and tacit knowledge sharing. Our study can be considered a pioneering study to investigate the influence of social capital on both tacit knowledge sharing and explicit knowledge sharing in the public sector. This work also enriches the growing body of knowledge regarding social capital and knowledge sharing in the public sector. Our research also offers suggestions to leaders in the public sector concerning relevant measures and policies that enable employees to share knowledge by promoting social capital.