IT服务企业中文化对知识共享与创新行为关系的影响

在全球一体化进程加速、IT服务企业员工文化价值取向趋于多元化的背景下,有必要了解员工文化观念对企业的影响。本文研究员工的集体主义观念和权力距离观念对IT服务企业中知识共享与创新行为之间关系的影响。在北京、西安的具有不同文化特色的IT服务企业进行问卷调查,收集了484份问卷,运用SPSS及SmartPLS进行数据分析。研究结果表明:员工的集体主义观念增强时,知识共享对创新行为的影响会增加;权力距离增大时,知识共享对创新行为的影响会减弱。对实践的启示是:管理者应培养、提高员工的集体主义文化价值观;根据公司的企业文化特色,区分对待员工权力距离对知识共享与创新行为之间关系的影响作用。

Impact of Culture on the Relationship between Knowledge Sharing and Innovative Behavior in IT Services Industry

As Chinese IT service companies face intense rivalry and customization demand, innovation is considered to be imperative for business success. In particular, employees' innovative behavior is an important asset. This study endeavors to extend research on innovative behavior by investigating employees' espoused individualism/collectivism and power distance cultural values in Chinese IT service industry. Specifically, a theoretical model is proposed to characterize antecedents of innovative behavior and investigate moderating effect of employees' espoused national cultural values on the relationship between knowledge sharing and innovative behavior. Questionnaire surveys were conducted in IT service firms with different ownerships in Beijing and Xi'an, with 484 questionnaires in total. SPSS and Smart PLS were used for data analysis. Results indicate that: Knowledge sharing affects innovative behavior significantly and positively; besides, this knowledge sharing-innovative behavior relationship increases with the increase of employees' espoused collectivistic cultural values, and decreases with the increase of espoused power distance cultural values. Implications for practice are: managers should recognize the importance of employees' espoused national culture, and design better recruitment strategies and training program for companies. For espoused collectivistic cultural values, managers should recruit employees high on collectivism, and implement mechanisms to cultivate and increase employees' espoused collectivistic cultural values. For espoused power distance cultural values, managers should adopt suitable strategies according to specific situations, e.g., if this organization emphasis on hierarchy or the leaders are characterized by high power distance, manager can ignore the negative moderating effect; conversely, managers should enhance mutual communication and trust between the managers and employees, and increase employees' enthusiasm and initiative in companies characterized by low power distance.