The explanation of the relationship between the students` engagement and knowledge sharing behavior at University: the role of attitude to knowledge sharing as the mediator variable

Salimi, Ghasem; Haidari, Elham; Keshavarzi, Fahimeh

doi:10.22059/jlib.2013.51130

The explanation of the relationship between the students` engagement and knowledge sharing behavior at University: the role of attitude to knowledge sharing as the mediator variable

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Ghasem Salimi ¹

Elham Haidari ²

Fahimeh Keshavarzi ³

¹ Ph.D. in Higher Education, Faculty member of Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

² Ph.D. student in Educational Administration, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

³ Ph.D. student in Curriculum Studies, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

10.22059/jlib.2013.51130

Abstract

Objective: The main purpose of the present research was to investigate the possible relationship between the quality of students` engagement and their knowledge sharing behaviors with regard to the role of the attitude to knowledge sharing as a mediator variable.
Methodology: the method employed for this study was a survey, which was conducted among doctoral students of Shiraz University. The structural equation modeling (SEM) and path analysis were utilized to analyze the data. The research instrument was a questionnaire with tree constructs (students` engagement Schaufeli and Bakker (2006), attitude to knowledge sharing, Bock et al. (2005), and knowledge sharing behavior Van den Hoof and De Ridder (2004)). The study’s participants were a sample of full-time doctoral students of Shiraz University; 250 students were selected inspired by stratified-random selection, and eventually 214 questionnaires were considered for analysis.
Findings: The findings indicated a significant relationship between students` engagement and knowledge sharing behaviors among Shiraz University doctoral students. The study also pointed out a significant positive correlation between students` engagements and attitudes toward knowledge sharing.
Keywords: students` engagement, attitudes to knowledge sharing, knowledge sharing behaviors, doctoral students, academic settings.

Keywords

students` engagement

attitude to knowledge sharing

Knowledge Sharing Behavior

doctoral students

academic settings