The Impact of Social Capital on Employees' Knowledge-Sharing Behavior: An Empirical Analysis of U.S. Federal Agencies

Recent critical challenges, including terrorism and an aging workforce, have brought to the attention of U.S. government agencies the need to share their knowledge across and within government organizations. In response to the growing awareness of knowledge sharing in the public sector, data from the Federal Human Capital Survey (FHCS) were utilized to develop and test a social-capital-theory-based extension of the relationship between social capital dimension and knowledge-sharing behavior by looking at the interaction effects between social capital dimensions and information technology (IT). The study also explores whether the social capital dimensions that affect knowledge sharing differ across three managerial levels (nonsupervisory, supervisory, and senior executive service). The findings provide insights and management strategies into social capital to stimulate knowledge sharing among employees in organizations. The contributions and implications of the findings are discussed.