Motivations Role in Knowledge Sharing in the Case of Corporate Social Responsibility

Abstract

With CSR becoming increasingly important for MNEs, having knowledge about CSR is essential for enterprises. Being geographically dispersed and complex structures, exploiting existing knowledge within the organisation can be challenging for MNEs. Sharing knowledge between business units can be difficult, and the complex characteristics of CSR makes it even harder to fully exploit the CSR knowledge. One essential factor for CSR knowledge sharing to be effective is motivation. While there are many factors affecting the motivation to share knowledge, it is important for MNEs to have information about what motivates employees and business units. The objective of this thesis is to get a deeper understanding and contribute to previous research by investigating and analysing how motivation influence knowledge sharing activities within an MNE, and more specifically in the field of CSR. In order to reach this objective, a case study was conducted at the Swedish enterprise SCA. Consisting of eleven semi-structured interviews, the case study found that, while the concepts of knowledge sharing and CSR are as complex as previous research reveals, the role of motivation is significant. Further on, motivation is not something that arises all by itself, but something that needs to be stimulated. The main findings of this study shows that by having the right sharing channels, ensuring a sufficient level of competence and creating a corporate culture where knowledge sharing is encouraged are factors that influence motivation for knowledge sharing. Finally, the result of this study implies that a deeper understanding about what motivates employees and business units to CSR knowledge sharing is recommended in order to facilitate a more efficient knowledge sharing process.