Knowledge Sharing Initiative in Institution of Higher Learning: The Lifelong Learning Plan

Abstract

Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL) should cultivate the practice of sharing knowledge among lecturers for the purpose of preserving knowledge. One way to keep the knowledge is through the establishment of a knowledge repository. This repository can be used by lecturers for teaching and learning, research and collaboration. However, some of IHLs do not take the initiative to form the repository. Apart from addressing the problem of missing knowledge, a study on the factors of influencing knowledge sharing which lead to the establishment of the repository such as transferred lecturer and those who are retired and furthering their study should be emphasized because there are lack of studies about it. The objective of this study is to investigate the factors of knowledge sharing practices among the lecturers in IHLs. The approach used in this study is a quantitative study and questionnaires were utilised as the main tool to collect the data. There were 147 respondents from public IHLs from Faculty of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) lecturers in the Klang Valley. This study was based on the theory of technology, organization and environment (TOE). From the analysis of this study, it has proven that ICT factors, organization and lecturers have significant relationship to knowledge-sharing practices at IHL. Apart from that, knowledge sharing practices have a significant relationship to the establishment of the repository. The results of this study can serve as a guideline to Faculty of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) at public IHL in their planning and direction regarding knowledge sharing initiatives, especially among lecturers for the purpose of forming a single repository and in preserving knowledge.