The Relationship between Knowledge Sharing, Social Capital, Psychological Safety, and Learning Organization Culture of IT Engineers

The purpose of this study was to examine the structural relationship between knowledge sharing and social capital, psychological safety, and learning organization culture perceived by IT engineers. To achieve the purpose of this study, the causal structural model of IT engineers' social capital, psychological safety, learning organization culture, and knowledge sharing was investigated. Second, the direct influence relationship between IT engineers' social capital, psychological safety, learning organization culture, and knowledge sharing was investigated. Third, the mediating effect of psychological safety and learning organization culture on the structural relationship between IT engineers' social capital, psychological safety, learning organization culture, and knowledge sharing was investigated.Data was collected from 305 IT engineers from large companies in South Korea. Data was analyzed with frequency analysis, descriptive statistics analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation model analysis. The results demonstrated that IT engineers' social capital and psychological safety were suitable for predicting knowledge sharing, but the effect of learning organization culture on knowledge sharing was not statistically significant. Second, IT engineers' psychological safety had a mediating effect on the relationship between social capital and learning organization. Third, psychological safety had a direct positive effect on knowledge sharing, but it had no indirect effect through learning organization culture. Fourth, social capital had a positive effect on knowledge sharing through psychological safety and learning organization culture. The results of this study suggest that various measures should be taken to maintain and expand formal and informal networks in order to promote knowledge sharing among IT engineers. In order to establish psychological safety for knowledge sharing among organization members, it is necessary to seek methods such as education for relationship building, activation of regular and irregular communication, and participation of related members in decision-making. In addition, it suggests that methods should be sought to facilitate knowledge sharing by establishing an organizational culture in which information on the psychological process of knowledge sharing is provided to organization members. Limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.