Explaining the intentions to share and reuse knowledge in the context of IT service operations

Purpose – Aims to provide an understanding on IS/IT professionals' intentions to share and reuse knowledge in the context of information technology service operations. Design/methodology/approach – The theory of planned behavior (TPB) is applied for examining IS/IT professionals' intention to share and reuse knowledge. The data were collected from working IS/IT professionals using an online survey, and partial least squares was used for analyzing the data. Findings – The results from this study indicate that the theory of planned behavior is an adequate model for investigating behavioral intentions of knowledge sharing and reuse in the context of information technology service operations. All direct determinants of intention to share knowledge, except subjective norm regarding information technology service operations knowledge sharing, and intention to reuse knowledge were significant. Research limitations/implications – This paper is one of the first to attempt to study both knowledge sharing and knowledge reuse under the same context. The relatively small sample size has limited statistical power of the implications drawn. Practical implications – This paper attempts to highlight the importance of information technology service operations in the IS/IT industry, and study knowledge management in that context. To encourage knowledge sharing, top management is advised that they should focus on building up a positive attitude in their employees, through improving relationships and recognition of their contributions. Originality/value – This paper is the first attempt to combine both knowledge sharing and knowledge reuse in the same context, and initiates research in the area of information technology service operations. This paper offers help to both practitioners and researchers in understanding in that area.