Knowledge sharing practices among crop researchers at the Kenya agricultural research institute

Abstract

This study sought to explore the knowledge sharing practices employed by crop researchers at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI). KARI accounts for more than half of both total research spending and agricultural researc h numbers, and has 11 main research centres strategically spread throughout Kenya. The aim of the study was to stu dy the knowledge sharing practices among KARI crop researchers . To achieve the set objectives , the study sought to identify the extent to which different knowledge sharing methods are used, to find out f actors that influence knowledge sharing among the cro p researchers, to determine constraints in knowledge shari ng among the researchers; and to understand how knowledge sharing at the institute can be improved . The study adopted the social e xchange t heory to get insights on factors that influence knowledge s haring among researchers at KARI , and adopted a qualitative approach to data co llection and analysis. T he questionnaire was the principal data collection tool. Data w ere collected from 80 crop research ers drawn from representative eight research cent r e s . T he study f ound t he use of seminars , conferences and workshops as the most frequently used methods of knowledge sharing by researchers at KARI. The findings also indicated that the modern methods of knowledge sharing such as blogs, communities of practice, and online discussion forums were rarely used by crop researchers hence making it difficult to achieve vibrancy in the knowledge sharing process at the institute. E - mail and telephone communication were moderately used . With regard to the factors that infl uence know ledge sharing among researchers, the study found that for majority of the crop researchers, trust determines who they share knowledge with. More than half of the researchers also felt that the rewards offered to encourage knowledge sharing at the institute were not sufficient even though there was good intra - team sharing of knowledge in research teams. The greatest constraints to knowledge sharing at the institute were identified as plagiarism and piracy and hence some of the suggestions to improv e knowledge sharing were to address the challenges of plagiarism and piracy in the institute. T he study recommends that KARI develops a knowledge sharing