Social Media as a Tool of Knowledge Sharing in Academia: An Empirical Study using Valance, Instrumentality and Expectancy (VIE) Approach

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand the factors that determine the knowledge exchange intention and behavioural nature of academics by the help of social media tools in the Indian higher education. Design/Methodology/Approach – This study has used Valance – Instrumentality – Expectancy (VIE) theory to determine the knowledge exchange behaviour of academics. The study has considered the effect of Knowledge Contributor (KC) and Knowledge Seeker (KS) as moderators. The model has been validated by using a survey with 320 usable respondents. Findings – The results highlight that if the stakeholders of higher education institutions feel the deficits of knowledge exchange, they realise importance of knowledge sharing and use social media to increase effect of knowledge exchange. Besides, perceived usefulness impacts on the use of social media for knowledge exchange by the concerned stakeholders. Moreover, it is observed that experience of the use of social media impacts the use of this tool for knowledge exchange. Theoretical Implication – The use and application of VIE theory has successfully been able to interpret the factors affecting the use of social media for knowledge exchange in the higher education institutions. The use of VIE theory has also been able to explain the proposed model better as the model could achieve a high explanative power (87%). Practical Implication – This study has provided meaningful insights to the practitioners or policymakers to realise how the stakeholders of the higher education institutions in India can be motivated to feel the need of sharing of knowledge and how they can use the social media with ease for this purpose. Originality/Value – Not much research has been conducted with regards to the usage of social media as a tool for knowledge sharing in higher education sector in India. In that sense, this study is a novel attempt to undertake such research.