Article: Knowledge sharing as a signalling mechanism: impact on perceived psychological safety toward health IT-enabled patient-care work Journal: International Journal of Business Information Systems (IJBIS) 2025 Vol.48 No.4 pp.522 - 554 Abstract: We investigate knowledge flows as signalling mechanisms shaping knowledge recipients' psychological safety towards health information technology (HIT)-enabled patient-care work. In large hospital systems, HIT-enabled patient-care work is complex and involves interdependent collaboration between people. We focus on two different kinds of knowledge that people share amongst each other as they engage in HIT-enabled patient-care work - requests for problem-specific help/advice and unsolicited, but helpful, tips/tricks/insights - and the social networks underlying these flows, namely help-seeking networks and voluntary contribution networks. Drawing on social network theory and knowledge management literature, we identify the positions within each social network that impact knowledge recipients' psychological safety. Social network data were collected from clinicians across 27 inpatient patient-care units, and analysed using generalised estimating equations. In voluntary contribution networks, in-degree centrality and in-closeness centrality impacted the psychological safety of knowledge recipients, while in help-seeking networks, only in-degree centrality had an effect on psychological safety. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Knowledge sharing as a signalling mechanism: impact on perceived psychological safety toward health IT-enabled patient-care work

Authors: Roopa Raman

Addresses: Department of MIS, Operations & Supply Chain Management, Business Analytics, School of Business Administration, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH 45469, USA

Abstract: We investigate knowledge flows as signalling mechanisms shaping knowledge recipients' psychological safety towards health information technology (HIT)-enabled patient-care work. In large hospital systems, HIT-enabled patient-care work is complex and involves interdependent collaboration between people. We focus on two different kinds of knowledge that people share amongst each other as they engage in HIT-enabled patient-care work - requests for problem-specific help/advice and unsolicited, but helpful, tips/tricks/insights - and the social networks underlying these flows, namely help-seeking networks and voluntary contribution networks. Drawing on social network theory and knowledge management literature, we identify the positions within each social network that impact knowledge recipients' psychological safety. Social network data were collected from clinicians across 27 inpatient patient-care units, and analysed using generalised estimating equations. In voluntary contribution networks, in-degree centrality and in-closeness centrality impacted the psychological safety of knowledge recipients, while in help-seeking networks, only in-degree centrality had an effect on psychological safety.

Keywords: knowledge networks; health information technology; HIT; network centrality; psychological safety; curvilinear relationship; multilevel survey research; help-seeking network; voluntary contribution network.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIS.2025.145552

International Journal of Business Information Systems, 2025 Vol.48 No.4, pp.522 - 554

Received: 12 Mar 2021
Accepted: 20 May 2021
Published online: 04 Apr 2025 *

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Title: Knowledge sharing as a signalling mechanism: impact on perceived psychological safety toward health IT-enabled patient-care work

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