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Knowledge Sharing Framework for Disaster Management

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 Journal of Information Systems Research and Innovation
9(1), 50-60, February 2015
Knowledge Sharing Framework for Disaster Management
Yunis Ali Ahmed 1. Mohammad Nazir Ahmad 2. Nor Hidayati Zakaria 3
Author(s) Contact Details:
1,2,3Faculty of Computing, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Published online: February 2015
© 2015 JISRI All rights reserved
Abstract
Purpose- The objective of this research paper is to
improve our understanding of knowledge sharing in
Disaster Management (DM), since knowledge sharing is
seen as one of the essential success factors for disaster
management initiative. Based on literature, the study has
developed a framework of knowledge sharing for DM,
identifying four factors namely environmental factors,
motivational factors, institutional factors and
technological factors.
Design/methodology/ approach – This paper
undertake a narrative approach to the literature review
instead of a meta-analysis method. The narrative
approach was chosen because the collected papers were
both qualitative and quantitative studies from existing
literature.
Findings - Although many studies have been carried out
with regard to DM issues, very few have focused
systematically on knowledge sharing for DM; thus, this
paper has proposed a framework as a basis for
understanding knowledge sharing research in DM
and four factors that influence knowledge sharing
practice in this domain.
Research limitations/implications- We have
discussed the importance of knowledge sharing in DM
generally, yet there remain a number of barriers needs to
contribute such lack of research in technological
dimension such as social media-based knowledge sharing
intention to use during disaster efforts .
Practical implications- this study presents a
comprehensive knowledge sharing framework for DM
which facilitating and integrating knowledge sharing
behaviours through the understanding of DM knowledge
sharing factors. The utilisation of this essential
framework expected to contribute effective knowledge
sharing in DM situation.
Keywords: Knowledge sharing, Disaster knowledge
exchange, Disaster management, Disaster relief
organisations
ISSN 2289-1358 © 2015 JISRI All rights reserved
1. INTRODUCTION
Over the past few years, natural disasters have been
wreaking havoc all around the globe, particularly in
developing countries. Catastrophic events include the
tsunami in the Indian Ocean, the earthquakes in Iran and
South Asia, hurricanes in Burma, the Caribbean and the
Pacific, as well as torrential rains, mudslides and
landslides in several countries in Asia and Latin America.
In developing countries, natural disasters have resulted in
the deaths of many people and the destruction of the
population’s means of subsistence (Provitolo 2012). For
instance, the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004 was the
largest disaster to hit several Asian and African countries:
it gripped the attention of the whole world, with more
than 40 countries and a total of 700 local and
international NGOs taking part in efforts to rescue
victims and restore properties (Raju and Becker 2013).
Knowledge sharing among various parties, each of which
may have different requirements and interests, is a
complex task facing major challenges in DM. A number
of studies on knowledge management have emphasised
that it can play a crucial role in the area of DM by
making certain that precise and dependable information
is readily available when needed (Mohanty, Panda et al.
2006, Srinivas and Nakagawa 2008, Pathirage,
Seneviratne et al. 2012). Although many studies have
been carried out with regard to DM issues, very few have
focused on how information is shared and coordinated
during disasters; thus, there is insufficient empirical data
available concerning this aspect (Bharosa 2010).
This paper can help extend our current understanding of
knowledge sharing in DM by answering the following
research question which has not been addressed in the
previous research: What are the underlying factors that
impede or facilitate knowledge sharing in DM. This
paper contributes to theory and practice by proposing an
extended and modified version of the framework by
Wang and Noe (2010). This study is not a systematic
review; instead, the review focuses on knowledge sharing
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9(1), 50-60, February 2015
in DM by examining the factors that can influence
disaster relief organisations’ knowledge sharing.
The remainder of the paper is structured as follows: in
Section 2, we review the relevant literature. In Section 3,
the research methodology is discussed and a framework
of the factors that influence knowledge sharing in DM is
proposed. In Section 4, we outline and explain four
factors that have an impact on knowledge sharing in
DM. In Section 5, we discuss knowledge sharing and its
important role in DM. In Section 6, we conclude the
paper.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Figure 1 presents a summary of an article on knowledge
sharing in the field of human resource (HR) management
(Wang and Noe 2010). The cost and recurrence of
natural disasters and the lack of focus on knowledge
sharing in the DM literature make knowledge sharing an
important topic in DM research. To address this issue,
the research framework of this paper is adapted from
Figure 1.
Figure 1. Original framework for knowledge sharing
and future research (Wang and Noe 2010)
2.1 Brief overview of the knowledge sharing
framework
The framework in Figure 1 (Wang and Noe 2010) is
based on a broad review of knowledge sharing in the HR
field. This framework incorporates two main factors that
influence the knowledge sharing among employees
particularly at the individual level, namely, environmental
factors and motivational factors. The environmental
factors emphasise the organisational context (e.g.
management support, organisational structure,
interpersonal and team characteristics), which affect
knowledge sharing through motivational factors. As
shown in the figure, the knowledge sharing intention and
environmental factors are mediated motivational factors.
ISSN 2289-1358 © 2015 JISRI All rights reserved
Wang and Noe’s (2010) research highlighted the
importance of knowledge sharing in the field of HR
management in the organisational context. Knowledge
sharing is regarded as a vital part of the knowledge
management process. Although knowledge sharing is
significant at every workplace, the previous research
highlights that the knowledge management framework or
model for addressing important issues in DM has
emerged as a prominent field for practical and research
topics in recent years (Badpa et al. 2013).
2.2 Key concepts
The definition of a disaster is an emergency that requires
rapid action to avoid catastrophic consequences to
human life and property (Badpa et al. 2013). There are
generally two types of disasters: natural disasters
(devastation as a result of natural causes) and man-made
disasters (devastation as a result of human decisions)
(Hamaoka et al. 2010).
Disaster management is a very wide field of knowledge, with
many complicated features intersecting between the
physical and the social aspects globally. Many
organisations, both local and international, have come up
with knowledge models to facilitate the sharing of
knowledge and the implementation of valuable DM
activities. DM involves joint decision-making activities,
frequently marked by a high degree of complexity with
regard to diverse sources of knowledge dispersed across
time, space and people (Othman et al. 2014).
Knowledge management is a process that involves locating
and accessing, capturing and storing, representing,
sharing and creating knowledge (Amaratunga et al. 2009).
Knowledge management continues to grow in
significance among organisations and institutions, as it
becomes a strategic tool capable of being used in a range
of initiatives. Knowledge management activities consist
of different phases, the first of which is to collect
information, recognise which resources are relevant,
select the most suitable components, and organise it in a
systematic manner (Tamjidyamcholo et al. 2014). The
feasibility of knowledge management in the area of DM
is determined by its ability to deal with both tacit and
explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is defined as
knowledge that difficult to articulate in words, sentences
and numbers and is there for often used to allude to
practical knowledge, such as personal experience , while
explicit knowledge is defined as objective knowledge that
can be articulated in formal language and easy to share
in words, sentences and numbers (Virtanen 2010,
Dorasamy, Raman et al. 2013).
Knowledge sharing is a vital integration tool that makes it
possible for various team members to share their ideas
and experiences with each other, thus resulting in more
extensive communication (Willem and Buelens 2007;
Nissen et al. 2014). It plays a significant role in
encouraging creativity and regular communication in
various organisational settings (Nesheim and Gressgård
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9(1), 50-60, February 2015

2014). However, disaster response frequently involves

unique situations, and traditional knowledge
management systems may not be configured to offer the
support needed because of knowledge gaps. For
example, as a result of the Haiti earthquake in 2010,
governments and aid organisations faced unprecedented
knowledge management challenges. Businesses and
individuals also had to face uncertainty and lack of
knowledge, because of the areas of disaster a tasks may
be out of the normal (Yates and Paquette 2011; Ginige et
al. 2014).

3. RESEARCH METHOD

A narrative approach (Martin 2014) is a suitable method

to answer our study question. The previous research by
(Wang and Noe 2010) highlighted that knowledge
sharing has been addressed by only a small number of
empirical studies and without the use of common
measures. However, the limitations of the existing
literature and the importance of knowledge sharing in the
DM domain motivate us to carry out a study to
understand more about the suppositions related to
knowledge sharing in DM and the factors that influence
knowledge sharing in DM; therefore, this study uses a
narrative approach to the literature review instead of a
meta-analysis method. The narrative approach was
chosen because the collected papers were both
qualitative and quantitative studies. The aim was to
capture different literature in the related fields of
knowledge sharing in DM. Our research covers the
studies published from 2004 to 2014. The main purpose
of this review is to conduct a comprehensive appraisal of
the last decade of studies in relation to knowledge
sharing in DM. The databases used in our survey of the
literature included ScienceDirect, Emerald, Engineering
Village and Springer. Furthermore, this study proposes a
theoretical framework for the four most influential
factors based on the author’s review.
Based on the review of the existing literature and
practical work experiences, the importance of empirical
studies of knowledge sharing in DM, and seeking to
answer the research question in relation to problem-
specific DM knowledge sharing factors, we propose a
framework derived from Figure 1. As shown in Figure 2,
the framework contains the four main factors that
influence the dependent variable of knowledge sharing
behaviour in DM and show how the factors are
interrelated. Figure 2; shows that three of these factors
influence knowledge sharing behaviour through
motivational factors, while the technological factor
directly influences knowledge sharing behaviour. After
reviewing the related literature, this framework answers
the research question regarding the underlying factors
that impede or facilitate knowledge sharing in the DM
domain. Each of these factors is discussed in the
following section.
Figure 2. Framework for knowledge sharing in DM:
directions and future research
4. DISASTER MANAGEMENT KNOWLEDGE SHARING
FACTORS
The DM knowledge sharing factors can be defined as the
factors that can impede or facilitate the sharing of
knowledge in DM successfully (Pathirage et al. 2012).
These factors can influence directly and indirectly the
knowledge sharing process in disaster relief organisations
in the DM cycle. These factors are categorised in four
groups, namely, environmental factors, motivational
factors, technological factors and institutional factors.
4.1 Environmental factors
4.1.1 Organisational context
 Organisational structure: Different studies have
investigated the effect of organisational structure on
sharing knowledge in DM. A disaster is more than
simply a major crisis: it is a sudden and unexpected
occurrence that tends to “throw a spanner in the
works” where effective organisations are concerned
(Comfort and Kapucu 2006). In fact, effective
knowledge sharing may avert the occurrence of a
worse crisis in the midst of the disaster (Hsu 2008;
Janssen et al. 2010). Managers need to be aware of
two vital aspects governing the employment of
organisational knowledge sharing: (a) the imminent
problems, and (b) the accessibility of team personnel

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 Journal of Information Systems Research and Innovation
9(1), 50-60, February 2015
to manage these problems. While an ideal merging
of these aspects generally enhances the
organisational efficiency level, the performance of
the team is also dependent on the managers’ ability
to ensure an amiable and accommodating
organisational set-up (Cowan and Jonard 2004,
Huang and Chen 2009).
 Management support: The period research has
highlighted that the management support for
knowledge sharing has been contributed to the
degree to which employee’s satisfactions to transfer
knowledge to the others (Wang and Noe 2010). Al
though knowledge sharing in DM is very complex;
however, the top management supports may
influence employee’s trust and commitments. As
previous research indicated that the behavior of
members in organisations is influenced by decisions
and directives originating from line managers. The
backing extended by managers to knowledge sharing
has an influence on the employees’ view of its
concept (e.g. employee trust, willing to share
knowledge in disaster ) and their readiness to impart
information (Lin 2007, Nesheim and Gressgård
2014). Knowledge sharing is required to bring
together the different fields of expertise,
perceptions, knowledge and information possessed
by the various team members and to establish
communication on a regular basis (Nissen et al.
2014).
 Rewards and incentives: Previous studies have
identified that inter-organisational knowledge
sharing in DM normally does not require monetary
rewards in order to encourage the exchange of
knowledge among the employees: instead,
employees prefer incentives for discretionary
knowledge sharing (Bharosa et al. 2010). According
to the literature, disaster managers have become
aware that a quicker and more coordinated reaction
to a disaster is important through knowledge sharing
(Murphy and Jennex 2006). However, the availability
of a repository for the gathering of information does
not guarantee the sharing of individual knowledge
into knowledge that can be accessed by the
organisation. Instead, individuals are disposed to
keep knowledge for motives that include individual
benefits influenced by self-interest and personal
gains, as well as group benefits influenced by
reciprocal attitudes, inter-personal relationships and
community concerns (Bock et al. 2005). Employees
tend to keep exclusive personal knowledge as they
believe the possession of such knowledge assures
their continued relevance in the organisation (Lee
and Ahn 2007).
 Organisational culture: According to the literature, the
organisational culture is the main influence on
knowledge sharing. The previous research found
that the organisational culture contributes
employees’ trust and innovations within
organisations (Wang and Noe 2010). Over the past
few years, the supervisors of DM organisations have
ISSN 2289-1358 © 2015 JISRI All rights reserved
understood that importance of quick and efficient
knowledge sharing during disaster responses. The
response to a disaster usually involves a number of
different groups and organisations that have
multiple cultures. Nevertheless, all those different
groups require access to extensive timely knowledge
in order to enhance cooperation and coordinate
their tasks (Murphy and Jennex 2006).
4.1.2 Interpersonal and team characteristics
 Team characteristics and processes: Disaster managers
have come to realise that precise and rightly timed
knowledge sharing is just as vital as rapid and logical
synchronisation among the organisations involved in
DM. Due to the fact that DM exercises involve
information-demanding procedures (Lee et al. 2011),
organisations should equip working parties with an
innovative merging of individual capabilities in order
to overcome unique difficulties (Chae et al. 2013). In
such situations, inter-personnel communication
disregards team parameters and this leads to the
smooth sharing of relevant knowledge among DM
teams (Foss et al. 2009; Andersson et al. 2012).
 Social networks: Previous studies have drawn attention
to the possibility that a disaster could open the
doors to an investigation into the effectiveness of
utilising social networks as a significant strategy for
knowledge management. The usefulness of social
media lies in its ability to distribute knowledge in
small amounts and in a variety of forms. This results
in knowledge that is easily assessed, distributed and
utilised (Yates and Paquette 2011). A virtual
community is a social network that eases the
successful sharing of knowledge in organisations.
The effectiveness of social networking can be
attributed to the readiness and desire of the
network’s members to share knowledge with each
other (Wang and Wei 2011).
4.1.3 Cultural characteristics
As the previous research highlights, the problems that
arise in knowledge sharing between partners are
predictably organisational in nature (Huesemann 2006).
DM involves interactions among international relief
organisations as well as a host of community participants
and agencies including local authorities, local NGOs and
the armed forces. This circumstance creates a confusion
of issues (such as politics, cultural values and the
administrative set-up of relief organisations) that may
influence the quality and form of knowledge sharing and
coordination among foreign and local participants
(Balcik et al. 2010). As the task is complex, it is
important to ensure “the provision of task information
and know-how to help others and to collaborate with
others to solve problems”. The exchange of information
and advice is the most common knowledge sharing
activity that takes place on a daily basis in relation to the
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 Journal of Information Systems Research and Innovation
9(1), 50-60, February 2015
multi-organisational tasks that need to be accomplished
(Nesheim and Gressgård 2014).
4.1.4 Individual characteristics
The review of the literature identifies that effective
individual knowledge sharing is prominent during crisis
management. DM involves decisions and actions that are
inclined to place an individual in a mentally and
physically taxing situation. This can be attributed to acute
time constraints and the heavy amount of information
and knowledge with which the individual is faced. To
add to an already difficult situation, this information may
be erroneous or obsolete by the time it is acquired. This
complicated, extreme and information-loaded situation
may overburden the individual tasked with the managing
and sharing of knowledge (Bharosa et al. 2010). It can
thus be deduced that the involvement of a greater
number of individuals in the decision-making process
through interaction and knowledge sharing will enhance
the efficiency of DM (Chae et al. 2013).
4.2 Motivational factors
4.2.1 Beliefs of knowledge ownership
Organisational knowledge, which is mainly attributed to
individuals, tends to be hoarded until such time the
exposure of this knowledge is agreeable to these
individuals (Kuo 2013). While it is acknowledged that the
attitudes of willingness and eagerness spur people on to
share knowledge, there are some significant disparities.
Willingness suggests a positive attitude in the relationship
with other group members, and an inclination to respond
compassionately during interactions. Thus, the
willingness to share is seen as a provisional form of
knowledge sharing (Vries et al. 2006). Previous studies
have demonstrated that when members of the staff think
they own knowledge (as opposed to knowledge owned
by the organisation), they are more prone to involve
themselves in knowledge sharing (Wang and Noe 2010) .
4.2.2 Perceived benefits and costs
Initially, an intensive investigation and evaluation of the
literature was conducted to determine the features that
contribute to an efficient management of disasters
(Pathirage et al. 2012). Research reveals that while
knowledge sharing comes at a price tag for the
participants, the personal conviction that the eventual
gains will be worth their while is a significant factor
determining the conduct of knowledge sharing
individuals. Accordingly, the absence of appropriate
compensation to justify the cost has proven to be a
significant barrier to the development of knowledge
sharing (Bock et al. 2005).
4.2.3 Interpersonal trust and justice
As the previous research highlights, knowledge sharing
and trust contribute to the coordination and relations of
individuals in a disaster response. Because a disaster is
ISSN 2289-1358 © 2015 JISRI All rights reserved
extremely unpredictable and changeable, the situation is
frequently burdened with the dual dilemma of knowledge
excess and information scarcity which is determined by
the relationship of an individual to these occurrences
(Shklovski et al. 2008). A significant facet of interaction
that currently requires enhancement is the availability of
interaction. Interaction (communication) that encourages
the sharing of knowledge and experience helps to elevate
organisational learning (Kapucu et al. 2010). However,
the factors that move an individual to share knowledge
remain obscure. Interpersonal trust is recognised as one
of the driving forces behind the readiness of an
individual to share knowledge. Previous investigations
have uncovered that workplace mind-sets, actions and
accomplishments are influenced by faith and fairness
(Renzl 2008).
4.2.4 Individual attitudes
The aftermath of a catastrophe is an opportune time for
deliberations as the necessity for information sharing is
raised. It has been observed that, in urgent situations, the
requirement for knowledge is elevated and the
communication system is affected. The sharing of
relevant and accurate knowledge during a disaster is
recognised as crucial and demanding (Lu and Yang
2011). Previous studies have emphasised that the
willingness to share knowledge can be influenced by the
attitude and capability of an employee. It has also been
established that a sizeable number of employees are yet
to recognise the significance of knowledge sharing and
transmission (Wang and Noe 2010).
4.3 Technological factors
4.3.1 The role of ICT in supporting the process of
knowledge sharing in DM
As knowledge management comes with various
occurrences and actions, the utilisation of information
communication technology (ICT) can enhance efficiency
in this area by reinforcing the system of knowledge
creation, sharing and distribution. It can also play a role
in the setting up of a functional organisational memory
process to elevate the levels of preparation and reaction
in the event of a disaster (Dorasamy et al. 2013).
4.3.2 Social media-based knowledge sharing in DM
Previous studies have identified the advances current
level of technology has converted the learning and
transmission of knowledge into a process that is
independent, casual, friendly and connected (Sigala and
Chalkiti 2015). Knowledge sharing founded in social
media is quickly developing into a useful technology for
the managing of a disaster. Social media-based
knowledge sharing was utilised for the management of
several disasters in the previous decade. During the relief
efforts initiated by the US in response to the Haiti
earthquake of 2010, social media technologies (including
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9(1), 50-60, February 2015
wikis and collaborative workspaces) were at the forefront
in the management of knowledge sharing (Yates and
Paquette 2011).
4.4 Institutional factors
Previous research highlights that institutional factors
influence DM due to the involvement of various
agencies including international, regional and local relief
organisations, host governments, the military, and private
sector companies, each with their own individual
interests, directives, capabilities and logistical skills.
Normally, no single participant has adequate resources of
its own to respond effectively to a major catastrophe
(Balcik et al. 2010).
4.4.1 Civil organisations (NGOs and businesses)
DM activities are usually complicated and dynamic, and
call for knowledge sharing and decision-making to be
coordinated without delay among different organisations
at various levels and locations (Kapucu 2006; Becerra-
Fernandez et al. 2008; Clark and Cassani 2014). In order
to handle the complex activities involved once a disaster
hits, it is necessary for the various organisations to switch
from being autonomous bodies into teams that are
dependent on each other for decision-making (Hsu 2008,
Janssen, Lee et al. 2010). The concept of sharing and
combining information within public and private
organisations depends very much on the existing
relationships among organisations and on their ability to
work together as a team (Bigdeli, Kamal et al. 2013).
Multi-organisational tasks are processed across the
diverse teams, so knowledge sharing faces challenges
when it comes to sharing and coordination (Santos,
Soares et al. 2012). Responses to complex emergency and
natural disaster environments with multiple
interdependent professionals require teamwork and
collaboration, and poor knowledge sharing makes
decision-making difficult during the period of disaster
response (Bharosa, Lee et al. 2010).
4.4.2 Military organisations
Although the military may have experience in responding
to disasters, they frequently face the same issues and
challenges that confront civilian organisations (Weeks
2007). Military-based networks have special protocols
and rules that can cause knowledge sharing challenges
between NGOs and the military in disaster operations.
(Liao 2008). Success in handling these types of challenges
is based on discovering a way to end the default
behaviour associated with the “need to know” approach;
rather, it is important that most organisations shift to a
“need to share” communication culture (Dawes,
Cresswell et al. 2009). Furthermore, the humanitarian
principles, collaborative and coordination relations
among military and civil organisation are very
complicated for various reasons. First, military and civil
actions tend to be disordered, unstable and disputed. For
example, the response requires the participation of the
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local population but there is a lack of knowledge,
information and legal structure. Second, the relationship
between military and civil groups is difficult because of
the momentary (temporary) nature of their alliance
(Rietjens, Verlaan et al. 2009).
4.4.3 Host government (Government affected by a disaster)
Coordination between the various agencies responding
to the disaster is a vital element for ensuring the success
of relief operations. This has proven to be a significant
factor in disaster relief operations in recent disasters such
as Hurricane Katrina and the Indian Ocean Tsunami
(Coles, Zhuang et al. 2012). In addition, two of the most
usual causes of communication problems have been
identified as the absence of earlier communication and a
lack of trust. Effective cooperation between agencies is
particularly important when there is an acute lack of
governmental supervision and regional management
(Coles, Zhuang et al. 2012). As government agencies
address these problems in partnership with their
international counterparts, the sharing of knowledge and
information across nations will become increasingly
significant as collaborative tools (Drake, Steckler et al.
2004, Cumbie and Sankar 2012, Dawes, Gharawi et al.
2012).
5. DISCUSSION
Based on the literature review we identified several
factors that are important for successful knowledge
sharing in DM. In this section we discuss the key issues
related to knowledge sharing in the DM framework
(Figure 2).
5.1 Environmental factors
The review of the literature indicates that when disasters
occur, one organisation does not have enough resources
to address such complex catastrophes: therefore,
multiple actors must contribute. The coordination and
sharing of knowledge through the organisational
environment become important.
As depicted in Figure 2, the environment factors of
organisational context, interpersonal and team
characteristics and cultural characteristics influence the
dependent variable of knowledge sharing which, in this
study, was examined.
5.1.1 Organisational context
The study highlighted that inadequate knowledge
sharing, lack of a common plan among the different
actors as well as perceived insufficient rewards, and lack
of structure and standards become problematic in
disaster relief organisations. As shown in Figure 2, the
superior organisational performances depend on how to
handle the employees’ motivation so that they cooperate
to share knowledge to achieve organisational goals.
Individual knowledge may not be exchanged with others
for different reasons as discussed in this paper. If
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9(1), 50-60, February 2015
employees are willing to share knowledge with another
team such as doctors, nurses and volunteers in the
disaster environment, they can succeed in their task.
Working within a disaster area needs transparency and
good relationships between management and employees.
According to (Ginige, Paolino et al. 2014), the success of
a crisis management process as a whole depends
principally on the sharing of valid and well-timed
information and management among the various team
members responding to the emergency.
5.1.2 Interpersonal and team characteristics
This study identified that knowledge sharing can facilitate
team members’ coordination and cooperation during
DM. As coordination mechanism for knowledge sharing
among different groups may help disaster relief
organisations to succeed. By working together, there is a
great coordination and collaboration amongst all parties
that contribute to the DM; this will also ensure a
common forum for DM actors as is it very essential to
solving any DM engagement. However, in the aftermath
of disaster, impromptu groups overlap and these groups
may include members from various organisations.
Interpersonal knowledge sharing and team building
become important in such disaster situations. The
previous research has identified that the use of social
networks in the knowledge sharing process can assist in
developing interpersonal knowledge sharing practices
(Wang and Noe 2010).
5.1.3 Cultural characteristics
Thousands of organisations and institutions have
stepped forward over the past few decades to lend their
support to DM efforts. It is necessary to reinforce the
existing connections among all agencies involved in DM
in order to develop the best practices and coping
mechanisms in the region (Boh 2007). The study found
that sharing knowledge in diverse groups and multi-
cultural organisations gives rise to challenges and makes
it difficult for organisations to coordinate their tasks. For
instance, a complex disaster requires multi-agency
responses and collaboration among organisations that
may have different languages, styles and organisational
structures as well as different missions and goals. These
multiple institutions and agencies have made difficult for
knowledge sharing and coordination in DM efforts.
5.2 Motivational factors
As shown in Figure 2, the motivational factor influence
knowledge sharing intention and behaviour, while other
factors such as institutional factors and environments
factors directly influence knowledge sharing intention
through the motivational factors.
5.2.1 Beliefs of knowledge ownership
The review reported in this paper identified that
knowledge ownership occurs when employees believe
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that knowledge is owned by the organisation or
particular persons. This usually creates a lack of
knowledge sharing among parties. On the other hand,
the lack of knowledge sharing in disaster relief
organisations may occur because organisations receive
different funds from different donors, and each
organisation may not like to transfer information to the
other organisations as identified by (Raju and Becker
2013).
5.2.2 Perceived benefits and cost
Although DM involves complex tasks, individuals’
efforts in DM may not directly involve benefits and
costs. According to (Bharosa, Lee et al. 2010), disaster
relief organisations should consider indirect rewards to
encourage their employees to share knowledge.
However, individual attitudes including the willingness to
share knowledge are relevant.
5.2.3 Interpersonal trust and justice
Issues related to interpersonal trust are highlighted in this
study as important factors that affect employees’
knowledge sharing in disaster relief organisations. For
example, trust between organisations also involves
employees’ willingness: if employees trust and recognise
that each person’s knowledge sharing depends on
another’s contribution, this may enhance the employee’s
willing to give helpfulness information and knowledge
to others. Interpersonal trust is recognised as one of the
driving forces behind the readiness of an individual to
share knowledge (Renzl 2008).
5.3 Technological factors
Increasingly, disaster relief agencies and other business
organisations are seeking to speed up their knowledge
sharing process. In order to reach their goal, they must
understand the factors that influence knowledge sharing
and the type of technology that is relevant at the
individual level. This study highlighted that ICT
underpins the day-to-day activities in disaster relief
organisations. In the DM cycle, ICT is an important part
of the four phases of the DM process, namely,
preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation.
Despite the improvement of traditional ICT in the
disaster response area, after the Indian Ocean Tsunami
in 2004, social media became a knowledge sharing
platform. Social media-based knowledge sharing
provides disaster relief responders with route
communication and knowledge. According to the
literature, social media-based knowledge has been used in
DM in different countries such as in the 2010 Haiti
Earthquake where social media contributed knowledge
sharing and coordination among disaster responders
(Yates and Paquette 2011) and in the 2011 East Japan
Earthquake (Peary, Shaw et al. 2012, Hashimoto,
Aramvith et al. 2013). This social media technology has
been used in different phases of DM such as awareness
across disaster communities and integration of
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 Journal of Information Systems Research and Innovation
9(1), 50-60, February 2015
operations among the multiple organisations involved in
the disaster response.
5.4 Institutional factors
5.4.1 Civil organisations’ knowledge sharing in DM
Previous studies identified that working with dissimilar
organisations with different management styles and
unique beliefs and cultures makes knowledge sharing
difficult (Comi and Eppler 2010, Abdul Rahman and A
Iahad 2013). For instance, in the Indian Ocean Tsunami
more than 40 countries and a total of 700 local and
international NGOs took part in the DM efforts (Raju
and Becker 2013). The previous studies identified that
the coordination and knowledge sharing among public
and private organisations depend very much on the
existing relationships between organisations and their
ability to work together as a team (Bigdeli, Kamal et al.
2013).
5.4.2 Military organisations
The review of the literature highlighted that in the
lessons learned from complex disasters in the last two
decades, particularly in developing countries, the role of
military operations has received more attention in the
area of emergency response. As shown in the framework
in Figure 2, the military is one of the sub-factors that
influence both motivational factors and knowledge
sharing behaviours in DM. As different scholars
identified, military and non-military cooperation in
disaster operation faces several challenges and issues. For
example, shared knowledge and communication in the
military environment is embedded with particular rules as
“from need to know and need to share”. This leads to
problems, as the military information boundaries may
affect cooperation between actors ( Cresswell et al.
2009).
5.4.3 Host government and aid organisations’ knowledge
sharing in DM
Based on the literature, this study argues that the
integration and efficient institutional alignment is
important in order to implement the DM process.
Another essential issue is that the host government must
be involved in all activities in the disaster response
environment. If there is a lack of responsible
government, this may cause inefficiency in the response
and lead to delays in decision-making (Lin Moe and
Pathranarakul 2006). The lack of knowledge sharing and
coordination between host government and other
counterparts (including NGOs, international NGOs,
donors and the military) most usually become
problematic in disaster environments. As a result of the
Haiti Earthquake in 2010, governments and aid
organisations faced unprecedented knowledge
management challenges. Businesses and individuals also
had to face uncertainty and lack of knowledge, because
ISSN 2289-1358 © 2015 JISRI All rights reserved
of the unique components that manifested in the disaster
(Yates and Paquette 2011; Ginige et al. 2014).
6. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE RESEARCH
In this review, we developed a framework for
understanding knowledge sharing in DM. Based on the
literature review; we propose four factors that influence
knowledge sharing in DM with a discussion of each area
of emphasis and a summary of the empirical results. As
shown in Figure 2, this study presents a comprehensive
knowledge sharing in DM framework for facilitating and
integrating knowledge sharing behaviours through the
understanding of DM knowledge sharing factors. This
framework provides details on how the DM knowledge
sharing factors influence each other. This will enhance
the efficiency and effectiveness of the DM knowledge
sharing process in the relief organisations and also it will
help other researchers and practitioners as a foundation
for their research into knowledge sharing in the DM
domain.
We are aware that there are some limitations in our
review approach. We have discussed the importance of
knowledge sharing in DM generally, yet there remain
many opportunities for future research. For instance,
unlike traditional technology, social media-based
knowledge sharing would be a valuable area of
coordination by disaster relief organisations. Little
research currently exists regarding the social media based
knowledge sharing intention to use in disaster relief
organisations, particularly in understanding how social
media-based knowledge sharing use at the individual
level and identifying the factors that impede or facilitate
knowledge sharing. Such directions in future research
would extend our understanding in this field.
Acknowledgment
The authors wish to thank the Ministry of Higher
Education Malaysia for funding this study under Long
Term Research Grant Scheme (LRGS/b-
u/2012/UUM/TeknologiKomunikasidanInformasi)
with Grant No – 4L808, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.
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AUTHOR PROFILES:

Yunis received the master degree in business

administration in information technology from Kampala
International University (KIU), in 2011. He is a research
student of Faculty of Computing, Universiti Teknologi
Malaysia. His interests are knowledge management,
knowledge sharing, and knowledge integration.

Mohammad Nazir is a senior lecturer at Faculty of

Computing, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). He
holds a PHD from University of Queensland (UQ), a
master of Computer Science from UTM and bachelor of
IT from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).

Nor Hidayati is a senior lecturer of information systems

at Faculty of Computing, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
(UTM). She holds a PHD from Queensland University
of Technology (QUT), a master of Computer Science
from UTM and bachelor of IT from Universiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).

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