The relationship between stress and maturity in knowledge management

Purpose: This study aims to examine the relationships among organizational stress, disengagement from knowledge sharing and knowledge management maturity in a public institution of higher education in Brazil. Design/methodology/approach: Descriptive and quantitative means were used; in particular, a questionnaire developed by Batista (2012), the Instrument for Knowledge Management Assessment in the Brazilian Public Administration, a scale developed by Ford and Staples (2008) to measure the disengagement from knowledge sharing and the Occupational Stress Scale, developed by Paschoal and Tamayo (2004) were used to collect data. A multivariate analysis was performed, including the use of structural equation modeling to relate the constructs to each other. Findings: A positive significance was found in the relationships between organizational stress and disengagement from knowledge sharing and between stress and maturity in knowledge management. This finding supports the suggestion of Ford et al. (2015) that health, a key indicator, is directly related to disengagement from knowledge sharing. Research limitations/implications: This study adopted a cross-sectional design, so a longitudinal or experimental research may discover other insights. Originality/value: These results will be interesting to managers because stress management initiatives can help guide or identify opportunities to improve maturity in knowledge management and knowledge sharing.