The role of collaborative culture in knowledge sharing and creativity among employees

Employees' knowledge sharing and creativity are two important zones of an organization's concern. While extant literature sheds some light on this area, there is paucity of research which looks into different facets of knowledge sharing and the mechanism through which it enhances employees' creativity. This study conceptualizes and empirically validates the role that collaborative culture can play in boosting two processes of knowledge sharing i.e. knowledge donation and knowledge collection which eventually enhances employees' creativity in the organization. Quantitative research strategy and cross-sectional survey method were adopted for the collection of data. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 189 managers working in 87 business organizations listed in Lahore Stock Exchange of Pakistan. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling found out a significant and positive impact of trust, teamwork, and empowerment (facets of collaborative culture) on both knowledge donation and knowledge collection (dimensions of knowledge sharing). Cultural diversity was found to have insignificant impact on both knowledge-sharing dimensions. However, both knowledge sharing dimensions were having significant positive impact on employees' creativity. Findings of this research substantiate the current body of knowledge by identifying the role of collaborative culture in enhancing organizational creativity through different knowledge sharing dimensions.