Does guanxi matter to knowledge sharing?

In today´s competitive, rapidly changing work environment, knowledge management has become a necessary factor in achieving both individual and organizational success. Only by continually innovating and accumulating knowledge can organizations compete effectively. However, knowledge innovation begins with the interaction among people and the willingness to share personal knowledge and experiences with others. In Chinese society, the concept of “guanxi” is far more complicated than Western “relationship”. In this study, we adopt both Eastern and Western perspectives to explore the link between interpersonal relationships, guanxi, and knowledge sharing. To address this oversight, 60 sets of completed questionnaires from 260 research and development (R&D) employees from Taiwan formed the basis of our empirical analysis. We found that members with higher level expressive ties tend to offer a higher level of knowledge sharing, but that members with higher level of instrumental ties tend to offer lower levels of knowledge sharing. Team members with good relationship will positive to knowledge sharing. We discuss our findings in terms of their implications for management practices and future research.