Identifying and Ranking Factors Influencing Knowledge Sharing Using Multicriteria Decision-Making Methods: A Case Study

Effective knowledge-sharing among faculty members is one of the requirements for scientific competence and improvement of research quality in universities. This study aimed to identify and rank the key factors influencing knowledge sharing in order to help managers and policy makers take corrective actions.
The instrument used for data collection in this descriptive-applied study consisted of three questionnaires developed based on multicriteria decision-making techniques used in this study. The questionnaires were completed by ten faculty members at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences with at least five years of work experience. The collected data were analyzed using Super Decision software.
The most effective factors influencing knowledge sharing were found to be trust, organizational culture, and communication where as organizational structure and technology were considered to be the least effective factors.
In general, it can be said that interpersonal and soft factors such as organizational culture, compared with hard factors like organizational structure and IT, have greater impact on knowledge sharing among faculty members of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences.