The Mediating Role of Professional Ethics Regarding Intellectual capital, Organizational Learning and Knowledge Sharing

Considering ethical issues in higher education and promoting academy members professional ethics can affect the dissemination of the culture of sharing knowledge, information, ideas and specialty. The purpose of this study was to survey and discover the mediating effect of professional ethics on the relationship between intellectual capital, organizational learning and knowledge sharing capabilities.
The current study was a descriptive- correlative research. Statistical population included all 171 faculty members of Ilam University of Medical Sciences that 125 of whom were selected through stratified random sampling method based on Morgan table. Data was gathered through professional­ ethics, organizational ­learning capability, knowledge sharing, and intellectual capital questionnaires. To investigate the relationship between the variables in a conceptual model, the structural equation modeling was used.
Results showed that the relationship between intellectual capital and knowledge sharing was mediated through professional ethics. But the mediating role of professional ethics in the relationship between intellectual capital and learning capability was not confirmed. The results also showed that the highest significant correlation was achieved in the relationship between intellectual capital and learning capability. In the considered­ model, all regression weights, except­ for the­ relationship between professional ethics and organizational ­learning capability, were statistically significant.
Considering the principles of professional ethics and managing and developing intellectual capital at universities, which are expected to be at the center of knowledge creation, can be of great importance in promoting the culture of knowledge sharing among faculty members.