Library Review

Purpose – One of the new factors in Eastern European countries (and there is an acknowledgement that this aspect is displayed in other countries too) is this concept of freely sharing information, i.e. the concept of what is known in knowledge management (KM) literature of “Knowledge Sharing”. Sharing only takes place where there is trust and where there is a shared feeling of ownership of goals. The reasons behind the tendency to share are based on the kind of interpersonal relations between co-workers inherent within the organization and the effects of social relationships within organizational teams. Strengthening the social relationships between individuals in the team is crucial in motivating team members to share knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to add to the understanding of how KM impacts on an small- to medium-sized enterprise (SME) and create a framework of best practice of KM in SMEs.

Design/methodology/approach – New research is currently investigating the concept of “sharing social relationships” and one of the aims of the project is to investigate the barriers to sharing information in a particular type of business – that of the (SME) in order to form a comparative study. The results of the study will be used to from a model of “information sharing best practice” for SME which are setting up or using KM systems. The paper will examine the barriers to sharing in two newly emerging economies (Poland and Hungary) and one relatively established economy (the UK). At the time of writing, the work with Poland and Hungary has been completed and this paper gives the initial results from the Hungarian study.

Findings – The findings are complex and varied but in the case of the Hungarian results there is a clear energy, enthusiasm and commitment to knowledge sharing in order to ensure the success of the business.

Research limitations/implications – Emerging economies are by their nature changing economies and so this work forms a snapshot of life at a particular moment in time.

Practical implications – The paper shows that there is a need for an increase in training, and that government support is helpful and enabling.

Originality/value – Knowledge sharing is important and the study described in the paper will allow cross comparisons between different countries. It is intended that a model of best practice will be one of the outcomes of the project.