The mediating effect of competitive capabilities on the relationship between knowledge sharing and organizational performance among manufacturing companies in Malaysia

• Main Author: Ang, Hong Loong
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English; English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: HD58.7-58.95 Organizational behavior, change and effectiveness. Corporate culture
• Online Access: https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/40727/1/24%20PAGES.pdf; https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/40727/2/FULLTEXT.pdf; https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/40727/
• Institution: Universiti Malaysia Sabah

The purpose of this study is to examine the mediating effect of competitive capabilities on the relationship between knowledge sharing and organizational performance among manufacturing companies in Malaysia. Malaysia’s manufacturing companies have shown lower performance in terms of quality, innovative, and financial performance. Prior research have emphasized that manufacturing sector in Malaysia has suffered the worst business conditions since 2012 due to the companies are practicing conventional production systems, which lead to less competitive in connection with higher cost, lower quality, and lack of innovativeness. Thus, this study has investigated competitive capabilities and they are conceptualized as a multidimensional construct which consist six dimensions of competitive capabilities (i.e. quality, cost, delivery, flexibility, innovation, and environment). The respondents of this study are 145 Malaysia’s manufacturing companies which have high responsive on improving organizational performance and make their organizations’ competitive capabilities effective. Quantitative approach was applied in this study. The data were collected using the disproportionate stratified random sampling method and analyzed by using the statistical analysis of Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling. Measurement model, structural model, and mediating analysis were employed to test the relationships between tacit and explicit knowledge sharing, competitive capabilities, and organizational performance. Overall, the results have showed that competitive capabilities have the mediated the relationship between knowledge sharing and organizational performance among manufacturing companies in Malaysia, which served to demonstrate the importance of assessing competitive capabilities as a multidimensional construct. For direct relationships, tacit and explicit knowledge sharing were shown to have significant positive influence on organizational performance (i.e. financial, quality, and innovative performance). However, tacit knowledge sharing did not have a significant relationship with innovative performance. Furthermore, only cost, delivery, innovation, and environment had significant positive relationships with tacit knowledge sharing. For explicit knowledge sharing, it was shown to have a positive relationship with competitive capabilities. On the other hand, quality and cost are found to have positive relationships with financial performance. The capabilities of quality, delivery, and flexibility also found to be positively related to quality and innovative performance. In the discussion part, this study has justified the unsupported relationships that there is a need for companies to break away from the conventional ways of producing products and developing production processes, and try out a different one by setting up competitive capabilities and knowledge sharing practices to achieve higher organizational performance and sustainable competitive advantage. Overall, the present work has provided empirical data to describe the mediating effect of competitive capabilities and the influence of tacit and explicit knowledge sharing on organizational performance among manufacturing companies. The findings may serve to develop better understanding and guideline for Malaysia’s manufacturing companies to accommodate current business environment and improve organizational performance.