Why isn't knowledge transfer happening more often in companies spending money on it? Maybe it's because their staff don't always want to share.

"We've had years of research in organizations about the benefits of knowledge-sharing but an important issue is the fact that people don't necessarily want to share their knowledge," says David Zweig, a professor of organizational behaviour and human resources management at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management.

His paper is the first to name this behaviour as "knowledge hiding."

"A lot of companies have jumped on the bandwagon of knowledge-sharing, such as spending money on developing knowledge-sharing software", says Prof. Zweig. "It was a case of, 'If you build it they will come.' But they didn't come."
The paper identifies three ways employees hide what they know from co-workers: being evasive, rationalized hiding - such as saying a report is confidential -- and playing dumb.

Why do they do it? Two big predictors are basic distrust and a poor knowledge-sharing climate within the company. Companies may be able to overcome that through strategies such as more direct contact and less e-mail communication, highlighting examples of trustworthiness, and avoiding "betrayal" incentives, like rewards for salespeople who poach each other's clients.

"If you don't work on creating that climate and establishing trust, it doesn't matter how great the software is, people aren't going to use it," says Prof. Zweig.

The academics have come up with three ways for employers to improve their lot. The first involves fostering greater trust between staff by encouraging more face-to-face contact and less communication by email. The second is to recognise, highlight and reward examples of good knowledge sharing, so they make it clear that it's something they value. And the third is to avoid 'betrayal' incentives, like giving salespeople commission when they pinch someone else's client.