1992-8645 e-issn: towards exploring …

Journal of Theoretical and Applied Information Technology30th June 2016. Vol.88. No.3

© 2005 - 2016 JATIT & LLS. All rights reserved.

ISSN: 1992-8645 www.jatit.org E-ISSN: 1817-3195

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TOWARDS EXPLORING FACTORS THAT INFLUENCESOCIAL MEDIA-BASED KNOWLEDGE SHARING

INTENTIONS IN DISASTER MANAGEMENT1YUNIS ALI AHMED, 2MOHAMMAD NAZIR AHMAD, 3NOR HIDAYATI ZAKARIA

1 2 3 Faculty of Computing, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor, Malaysia

E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Knowledge sharing is considered vitally important for the success of disaster management initiatives.Within the process of disaster management, a growing number of users have started to utilize social mediaas a means of knowledge sharing. Specifically, social media empowers individuals to take part inknowledge sharing activities, which will in turn encourage more people to join in disaster relief activities.Encouraging online knowledge sharing behaviors among employees is a prominent research topic.However, to date, little empirical research has been undertaken to examine social media- based knowledgesharing behaviors within the disaster management domain. This study explores the factors that facilitatevoluntary social media-based knowledge sharing intentions, for use within disaster management. Thestudy offers a conceptual model for assessing these factors. In this paper, the three dependent variables ofindividual attitude, subject norms and perceived behavioral control are defined as related to social media-based knowledge sharing intention. In addition, the three groups of organizational factors, individual factorsand technology factors, with seven subset variables of management support, organizational reward,knowledge self-efficacy, interpersonal trust, enjoyment in helping others, perceived usefulness andperceived ease of use, are identified as independent variables in this study. This study reviews the existingliterature both in the field of social media-based knowledge sharing in general and in the disastermanagement domain in particular. Comparing this research with other studies, the main difference is thatthis study proposes a full set of factors that influence social media-based knowledge sharing behavior.Concluding remarks and suggestions for further statistical study work are provided, particularly in relationto the implications for disaster relief organizations in Somalia.

Keywords: Knowledge Sharing, Social Media, Social Media-Based Knowledge Sharing, DisasterManagement.

1. INTRODUCTION

Over the last several years, the recognition of theimportance of social media-based knowledgesharing within disaster management has grown [1,2]. Emergency managers have learned that sharingknowledge about disaster management is asessential as saving lives during an actual disasterevent [3]. In the event of a disaster, timely andefficient knowledge sharing can curtail impacts, byensuring an effective response and the economicuse of disaster management resources [4].Knowledge sharing creates opportunities tomaximize organizations’ abilities to meet needs andgenerate solutions [5]. Knowledge sharing isdefined as the information process and socialinteraction that takes place within the human mind.It also involves an exchange of knowledge,including experiences and skills among individuals,

groups, departments and intra-externalorganizations [6].

Many researchers have argued that effectiveknowledge sharing requires tools such as socialmedia technology; social media-based knowledgesharing is a process through which members of anorganization can acquire disaster knowledge. Forinstance, when disaster occurs, complex tasks anduncertain conditions are commonly involved, andoutcomes can include tremendous social, economicand environmental impacts. A response requireseffective knowledge sharing which facilitates fasterdecision-making among the broad variety of relieforganizations, including those in the public sector,the private sector and volunteers, thereby enablingimmediate help to those affected by catastrophe [7].

Knowledge sharing is one of the most essentialsuccess factors of knowledge management, as it can




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enable organizations to leverage their most valuableasset, that is, the employees who share theirknowledge with others. Without effectiveknowledge sharing among organizations,employees may not be able to bring together theirexpertise, particularly their skills and abilities, inorder to coordinate and accomplish dynamic,uncertain and complex tasks [8]. Several studieshave indicated that knowledge sharing throughsocial media is an ideal replacement for rigidtraditional knowledge sharing methods. Forexample, disaster responders, such as NGOs andcivil and military organizations, could acquireinformation simply by logging in to obtain the latestinformation and knowledge about disasters [70,2,1]. This allows for rapid knowledge sharing andcommunication between diverse organizations, asdistance barriers are minimized [9]. The useof social media tools to facilitate knowledgesharing processes can open opportunities and clearthe way for communication between relieforganizations and community members, in order tocreate, filter and share real-time knowledge during adisaster [2].

Despite a growing number of studies regardingsocial media-based knowledge sharing in disasterenvironments, few studies have examined thedifferent antecedent factors that impact socialmedia-based knowledge sharing behavior indisaster management efforts. [10] found that theliterature on social media-based knowledge sharingbehavior has focused on individual, organizationaland technological factors. Such studies have shownthat social media-based knowledge sharing isdirectly influenced by these factors. However,earlier research has identified that not enoughstudies have been conducted to investigate thefactors that influence individuals’ willingness toshare knowledge with others through social mediachannels in times of disaster [11]. In order to bridgethis gap in the literature, the objective of this studyis to deepen our understanding of the differentfactors that determine the levels of knowledgesharing intention via social media in disastermanagement.

Researchers [12, 13] have followed the theory ofreasoned action (TRA) [14] to examine anindividual’s behavioral intention. However, manyinformation system (IS) researchers have suggestedthat the TRA model is unable to predict theperformance of behaviors over which people haveincomplete volitional control. It means that theindividuals might have little power over theirbehavior [15, 16]. It is supposed that online

knowledge sharing is undertaken through personalvolition and that knowledge is shared voluntarily.Based on this reason, knowledge contributors mayface practical constraints, which could include thelevel of control over the intended behavior, or theindividual’s willingness to share his or herknowledge with others, along with technology-facilitating conditions such as resources andopportunities, or an inability to provide knowledgevia social media.

These issues call for the incorporation of thetheory of planned behavior (TPB) which has beenapplied successfully to predict and explain behaviorwhere individuals might have incomplete volitionalcontrol [17]. TPB extends TRA through theaddition of the perceived behavioral control (PBC)variable. In the knowledge sharing context, PBCoutlines that a person’s willingness is influenced bythe perceived difficulty involved in the knowledgesharing task, and how successfully an individualperceives they can fulfill the task [17, 18]. TPB hasmainly been used to predict employees’ intentionsto contribute actively to online social mediaknowledge sharing, in settings such as highereducation, health management and small-mediumenterprises [19, 20]. To the best of our knowledge,the present study is the first to extend the use of thistheory to the disaster management domain. Wehave grounded our conceptual model in this theoryand have modified it by adding some constructsderived from other theories and from the extantliterature. The other theories involved in this studyare social cognitive theory (SCT), the technologyacceptance model (TAM) and social exchangetheory. The further explanation of these theories inthis paper is followed by a proposed conceptualmodel, which is discussed in the literature section.

The remainder of this paper is structured asfollows. In Section 2, the research methodology ispresented. In Section 3, the extant literature andhypotheses development are discussed. In Section4, the proposed conceptual model for social media-based knowledge sharing intention is presented. InSection 5, the paper concludes with some remarksregarding the implications of this line of enquiry fordisaster relief organizations in Somalia andpotential directions in further work.




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2. METHODOLOGY

Figure 1: Research Methodology Map

The research methodology illustrates the detailsof several steps taken in order to produce this paper.The main purpose of this research is to study andreview the knowledge management literatureregarding social media-based knowledge sharingbehavior in order to discover the key factors thatgovern knowledge contribution via social mediaduring disaster management efforts. Relevantjournal articles were downloaded from a range ofdatabases, including Science Direct, Springer Linkand SCOPUS. To help limit the scope of the search,this study reviewed only the research papers thatdiscuss social media-based knowledge sharingintentions and that were published from 2004 to2015.

Search approaches for information andknowledge sharing are interdisciplinary; therefore,in this study, the databases were searched using acombination of the following keywords: “intentionto use”, “social media”, “knowledge sharing”,“social media-based knowledge sharing intention touse” and “disaster management”. In total, 70 paperswere reviewed. Based on the results of this review,this study proposes a conceptual model of the threemost influential factors in knowledge sharingbehavior in disaster management.

3. HYPOTHESES DEVELOPMENT

Knowledge is an individual intellectual assetwhich an individual may be unwilling to shareunless there is encouragement and facilitation to doso [21]. Knowledge is seen as a power whichindividuals may not like to distribute freely. In thepersonal context, individuals may have concernsabout the circumstances in which to share or notshare knowledge [6]. In the organizational context,knowledge sharing is a valuable asset and resource[21]. Increasingly, employees are asked to sharetheir ideas, experiences and skills with othersthrough computer-mediated online discussionforums. However, additional exploration is requiredin terms of understanding what motivatesemployees to share their knowledge via emergingtechnology, particularly in disaster relief operations.Several studies identify various factors that affectan employee’s willingness to share knowledge viasocial media [22-24]. For example, these factorsinclude interpersonal trust [13, 25, 26], social norms[13], organizational culture and managementsupport [27], individual self-efficacy [28] andtechnology [13, 24, 29]. The present study focuseson organizational factors (i.e. management support),individual factors and technological factors to




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understand how these factors influence socialmedia-based knowledge sharing intention duringdisaster management efforts.

3.1 Organizational FactorsThe two fundamental dimensions of the social

exchange theory are the organizational factors ofmanagement support and organizational rewards[30]. Management support is defined as “a globalbelief concerning the extent to which anorganization values employee contributions andcares about their well-being” [31]. Managerialleadership plays a significant role in the success ofemployees’ knowledge sharing [32]. The socialexchange theory perspective explains managementsupport and long-term interrelationships betweengroups, as well as between individuals, such asemployees and leaders [33]. Top management’ssupport and encouragement of knowledge sharing,and the promotion of individual willingness to shareknowledge with others, has a positive influence onemployees’ attitudes towards knowledge sharing[5]. Studies have concluded that perceived supportfrom supervisors and coworkers such as givingaffirmative feedback and valuing contributions canenhance the quality of knowledge sharing andrelated facilities [34].

Based on the principles of social exchange, socialmedia-based knowledge sharing is becoming animportant technological tool for disastermanagement that enables information andknowledge to be freely exchanged throughconversations and online interactions [2].Researchers have investigated managementapproaches to support the use of social media forthe construction of relationships and to encouragemembers to share their knowledge [35].

When utilizing social media for knowledgesharing within the disaster management domain,without top management support, employees maybe unwilling to share information amongthemselves [36]. Earlier research showed thatmanagement supports can positively-influence anemployee’s attitude and subjective norms towardsknowledge sharing. An example of this could bemanagement supporting employees by providingsuitable resources, training and incentive rewards,and removing barriers to knowledge sharingfunctions. This may encourage employees todevelop positive attitudes towards sharing theirknowledge with others within the organizationalcontext [27]. Therefore, the following hypotheseswere formulated:

H1a- Management support positively affects users’attitudes towards social media-based knowledgesharing.H1b- Management support positively affects users’subjective norms towards social media-basedknowledge sharing.

To encourage employees to share theirknowledge with others, the organization mayprovide various forms of rewards. These caninclude increased pay, bonuses, job security,respect and status [37]. From this perspective,individuals may share knowledge when the benefitsoutweigh the costs of knowledge sharing, or whenthe results meet expectations [38]. Liao, To andHsu [39] argued that knowledge sharing can beconsidered a form of social exchange, wherebypeople who share knowledge expect the samefuture return from their activities.[40] explainedthat, from the social exchange theory perspective,each person engages in social interaction byconsidering the costs and benefits of any actionbefore deciding what to do. [41] found that peoplecan be assumed to evaluate the benefits of theirknowledge sharing with others before they makedecisions. [42] noted that knowledge sharing indisaster management is different from knowledgesharing within stable business organizations. This isbecause, within the disaster managementenvironment, individuals who are required to worktogether as a team often have no prior experience ofworking with each other. Paton [41] highlightedthat, within such a situation, people are moremotivated to share their knowledge with others ifthey expect some reward in return as a result ofsharing the disaster-related information.[43] foundthat rewards are often used as a tool to encourageemployees to be willing to share knowledge andinteract more with others. Similar research claimedthat rewards are useful for motivatingemployees to adopt a positive attitude towardsknowledge sharing with others [28]. Therefore, thisstudy developed the following hypothesis:

H2- Organizational rewards positively affectusers’ attitudes towards social media-basedknowledge sharing.

3.2 Individual FactorsSCT has been applied within the field of IS

research as a means of examining an individual’sbehavior. It defines individual behavior as dynamic,triadic, and as the social interaction of personalfactors, beliefs and surrounding environments [44].SCT postulates two combined factors that caninfluence individual behaviors in regard to the




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decision to either perform or not perform certainactions. These factors are personal recognition,including self-efficiency and outcome expectations,and environmental factors such as trust [44, 45].The outcome expectation is defined as “a judgmentof the likely consequences that will be produced byperformance”, whereas self-efficacy is “a judgmentof one’s ability to organize and execute given typesof performance”[45]. Within the context of socialmedia knowledge sharing, SCT argues that factorssuch as self-efficacy, outcome expectation and trustplay an important role in influencing onlineknowledge sharing [19, 46, 47]. The outcomeexpectation factor is excluded from this study.

Self-efficacy is described as a person’s belief thatthey possess the capacity to act in a particularmanner [48]. Self-efficacy can be deemed to be aself-motivator. People who are highly confident oftheir abilities to share beneficial knowledge aremore inclined to impart that knowledge to otherswith the certainty that the knowledge they sharewill help to resolve issues or improve performance[39]. Within the disaster management context,knowledge self-efficacy reflects an individual’scapabilities for knowledge sharing behavior. This isbecause, during disaster management efforts, onlinechats and interactions on social media enable usersto exchange information, to share knowledge thatthey possess with others in a timely manner, and toreceive feedback [49]. Consequently, employeeswho have high self-efficacy are more willing toshare their knowledge with others than those withlow self-efficacy [50]. As previous researchers haveshown, self-efficacy can influence an individual’sattitude towards social media-based knowledgesharing [22, 28, 47]. This led to the followinghypothesis:

H3- Self-efficacy positively affects users’attitudes toward social media-based knowledgesharing.

Since disaster management is underpinned byreciprocity, mutual trust and a willingness ofindividuals to share knowledge with others, it isimportant to recognize that employees may havedifferent reasons for deciding whether or not toshare knowledge [7]. Researchers have identifiedthat these types of knowledge sharing can occuronly when people trust one another. With this trustthey tend to cooperate with each other: an actionthat lies at the heart of knowledge sharing [51].Trust can be defined as “the willingness of a partyto be vulnerable to the actions of another party,based on the expectation that the other party willperform a particular action important to the trust or,

irrespective of the ability to monitor or control thatother party”[52].

Trust is a much-debated factor that consistentlyfacilitates knowledge sharing between two parties[53]. Within the context of online social media-based knowledge sharing, trust is an initialcondition required by communities to participateand share their ideas and opinions. The existence oftrust plays an important role in encouragingknowledge sharing among members [25].Knowledge is usually classified either as explicitknowledge or tacit knowledge. Explicit knowledgeis coded and documented, and it may be transferredin impersonal ways. Tacit knowledge is hard toexpress, especially with reference to cause andeffect relationships. However, trust is built on thetacit knowledge exchange of individual orcoordinated information. Online communities arethe cornerstone for the building of trust duringdisaster relief efforts because, in times of disaster,people will turn to these communities forinterpersonal and emotional encouragement [54].According to the literature, trust may positivelyinfluence users’ attitudes toward social mediaknowledge sharing [13]. This led to the followinghypothesis:

H4- Interpersonal trust positively affects users’attitudes towards social media-based knowledgesharing

Enjoyment in helping others refers to awillingness to help others without expectation of areturn [22]. In a review of the literature onknowledge sharing, enjoyment in helping others isdescribed as altruism [5]. Altruism is defined as“voluntary helping actions where one attempts toimprove the welfare of others at some cost tooneself” [55]. In the disaster managementknowledge sharing literature, both a drive to helpothers and social interaction are reported tosignificantly enhance online knowledge exchangeand increase the willingness of individuals to sharetheir knowledge freely and without expectation ofreciprocity during a disaster event [56]. In theliterature on the disaster environment, helpingothers occurs in situations which present a threat ofharm that requires an action in order to save ahuman life and protect property, and also requiresimmediate interventions[21]. Consequently, thisstudy employed the concept of enjoyment inhelping others as an antecedent of the factors thataffect an individual’s attitude towards social media-based knowledge sharing. This led to the followinghypothesis:




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H5- Enjoyment in helping others positivelyaffects users’ attitudes toward social media-basedknowledge sharing.

3.3 Technology FactorsIncreasingly, disaster relief agencies and other

organizations are seeking to speed up theirknowledge sharing processes. In order to obtaintheir goals, they must understand the factors thatinfluence knowledge sharing, and the type oftechnology that is relevant at an individual level.Technology is playing an increasingly importantrole in all phases of disaster management, that is, inthe pre-disaster, disaster and post-disaster phases[57]. In the case of new technology, such as onlinesocial media, users can easily create and edit newknowledge, post questions and answers, participatein discussions, and share experiences. Social mediaprovides many potential benefits and promiseswidespread access to its applications [9].

A variety of perceptions related to systems usehave been related to motivations to act [58]. Of theseveral IS theories that have been used to addressuser behavior towards the application of newtechnology, one of the most popular is the TAMintroduced by Davis [59]. The TAM proposes thattwo particular beliefs, namely, ‘perceivedusefulness’ and ‘perceived ease of use’, caninfluence a person’s attitude towards using asystem. In this study, these two factors wereadapted from the TAM to explore the use of socialmedia-based knowledge in disaster situations.

Perceived usefulness is a motivation that comesfrom outside the user, and is described as the extentof an individual’s belief that work performance canbe improved if a certain system is employed [59,60]. The TAM maintains that a belief in usefulness,for instance, can have an influence on the attitude ofthe user [59]. From the viewpoint of an individualwho intends to share their knowledge, the perceivedusefulness of sharing that knowledge shouldincrease to the point where the individual’s contactsare also motivated to share that knowledge andexpress their thoughts[6]. Prior research hasconfirmed that the perceived usefulness ofknowledge sharing through social media can havean effect on users’ attitudes [13]. Accordingly, itwas hypothesized that:

H6- Perceived usefulness positively affectsusers’ attitudes toward social media-basedknowledge sharing

Perceived ease of use is defined as anindividual’s evaluation of the degree to whichinteraction with a particular information system or

technology entails no mental exertion [59]. It is oneof the primary behavioral beliefs of both theoriginal and revised versions of the TAM whichdetermines the attitudes of users who employtechnology [61]. According to earlier studies,individuals are more inclined to use a newtechnology once they sense that it is easy to use[13]. Previous studies have confirmed thatperceived ease of use has a significant influence onusers’ attitudes towards social media-basedknowledge sharing [13]. In the knowledge sharingcontext, PBC for knowledge sharing behaviors ishighly associated with perceived ease of use, whichis influenced by the knowledge workers perceptionsinvolved in the knowledge sharing task [18].Therefore, we hypothesized that:

H7a- Perceived ease of use positively affects users’attitudes toward social media-based knowledgesharing.H7b- Perceived ease of use positively affects users’perceived behavioral control towards social media-based knowledge sharing.

3.4 TPB Constructs and its BeliefsTPB [17] is an extension of the TRA and is well-

known within the context of social psychology inhuman behavior. TPB has been shown to beeffective in forecasting and describing theintentions and behaviors of people across a range ofinformation technologies [62, 63]. The TRA isbased on the assumption that personal behavior is afully-controlled, conscious choice of will [14]. TheTPB posits that people are not fully in control oftheir behaviors. Its inclusion of PBC as anadditional factor enhances the predictivecapabilities of the theory. As suggested by TPB,individual behavioral intentions are determined in alarge part by attitudes, subjective norms and PBC[64]. Attitude herein refers to an individual’spositive or negative feelings or evaluationsregarding the performance of particular behaviors[17].

The positive relationship that exists betweenattitude and behavioral intention, within the contextof knowledge-sharing, has been verified by manystudies [18, 65]. Previous studies have shown that apositive attitude towards knowledge sharing willresult in a positive intention to share knowledge[66]. A subjective norm refers to “the perceivedsocial pressure to perform or not perform thebehavior” [17]. [19] found that a subjective normhas significance regarding a user’s intention withinthe context of online knowledge sharing. Previousresearch has found that subjective norms regarding




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knowledge sharing positively influence anindividual’s attitude towards knowledge sharing[18]. The apparent ease or difficulty related tobehaving in a particular manner, and the degree ofcontrol that is maintained by an individual over theattainment of personal goals, is referred to as PBC.This serves as the criterion for sharing knowledge,because an individual will only feel that they are intotal control of a behavior when they realize theease of sharing knowledge [67]. In the context ofknowledge sharing behavior, several earlier studieshave acknowledged that PBC is one of theinfluential factors that directly affect users’intentions to share online knowledge [66, 68].Therefore, the following hypotheses weredeveloped:

H8- Attitude positively affects a user’s intention touse social media-based knowledge sharing.H9- Perceived behavioral control positively affectsa user’s intention to participate in social media-based knowledge sharing.

H10a- Subjective norms positively affect a user’sintention to participate in social media-basedknowledge sharing.H10b- Subjective norms positively affect a user’sattitude towards social media-based knowledgesharing.

4. RESULTS

Proposed conceptual model of research:Regarding what motivates employees to participatein social media-based knowledge sharing for workpurposes during disaster management, thisstudy offers a conceptual model for assessing thefactors that facilitate voluntary social media-basedknowledge sharing intentions, for use withindisaster management. Based on the literaturereview, Figure 2 illustrates the proposed researchmodel which presents three groups of independentvariables, namely, organizational factors, individualfactors and technology factors, and dependentvariables, namely, the TPB constructs. A summaryof the research on each factor along with therelevant reference is presented in Table 1. Theproposed conceptual model is a preliminary workwhich will be extended in further statistical work inthe next phase

Figure 2: Conceptual model of Rresearch

Significance of the study: Based on the growingsignificance of social media knowledge sharingactivities within disaster management as aknowledge sharing propagator, several researchershave called for further investigations in order todetermine the main factors that shape social media-based knowledge sharing behaviors within thedisaster management domain. On the other hand,MS-based knowledge sharing has been used onboth individual and organizational levels, for thepurpose of sharing and disseminating disasterknowledge. Consequently, conducting research inthis area is important for understanding what factorsfacilitate the voluntary intentions of employees toshare their knowledge via social media, sinceknowledge sharing among employees cannot beforced but only encouraged.

The significance of this study within the contextof Somalia is two-fold. Firstly, Somalia hasexperienced natural disasters including floods,tsunamis, cyclones and droughts along with conflictand violence during the last two decades. However,the management of disaster in Somalia has receivedlittle attention and aid. There has been poorknowledge sharing by relief organizations on theground [69]. According to Cooley and Jones [70],




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both the UN Somali and the African Union Missionto Somalia (AMISOM) have used social mediaoutlets to spread disaster information, and to bothgarner support and encourage aid from relieforganizations and countries. Furthermore, moreparts of Somalia’s society are now using socialmedia tools (see sahanjournal.com/Somalia-social-media/). However, there is still an information-sharing barrier between local and internationalrelief organizations working in the country, as wellas with organizations and countries around theworld. Therefore, improving willingness to shareknowledge with others may help disaster relieforganizations to improve their work and even savelives. Secondly, in natural disasters such as the onesthat occur in Somalia, social media-basedknowledge may arguably provide a voice forgetting help to those people living in the affectedarea. As a result, this study has importantimplications within the context of disastermanagement particularly in countries like Somalia.

Table 1: Factors Influencing Knowledge Sharing inSocial Media Research

Type Influentialfactors

Indicativeliterature

Organizationalfactors

Managementsupport

[32], [5], [36]

Organizationalrewards

[5], [39]

Individualfactors

Perceived self-efficacy

[46, 47], [24],[50]

Trust [47], [25], [13]

Enjoy helpingothers

[18], [28]

Technologyfactors

Perceivedusefulness

[29], [13],[46], [22]

Perceived easeof use

[29], [13], [46]

TPBconstructs

Attitude [62, 63]

Perceivedbehavioralcontrol

[18] and [67].

Subjectivenorms

[19] and [18]

5. CONCLUSIONS

During disaster management, knowledge isshared among different employees, organizationsand departments at many levels, and requires theirexpertise, skills and experienced knowledgeregarding the disaster management issues. Sharingor not sharing knowledge with others is the result ofindividual behavior. This study has reviewed theliterature in this area by focusing on social media-based knowledge sharing behaviors andcombinations of organizational factors, individualfactors and technology factors. Based on theliterature, this study aimed to build a model foranalyzing how these factors affect employees’knowledge sharing intentions via the use of socialmedia in disaster management. The model proposedin this study is based on the TPB, SCT, the TAMand social exchange theory.

Considering the limitations of this study, threesuggestions are made for future research. Firstly,although the literature reviewed in this studygenerally supports the research hypotheses, astatistical test was not conducted. To address thislimitation, further research is neededto obtain primary data regarding the views of therespondents who participated in this study.Therefore, building the questionnaire items fromthe literature is the first step that needs to beundertaken in order to measure the behavioralmodel in terms of intentions to use social media-based knowledge sharing. Secondly, the datacollection in this study was limited to social mediaknowledge sharing behavior within relieforganizations in Somalia. Due to culturaldifferences, other research should be conducted insimilar countries in order to compare the resultsobtained from statistical studies. This may improvethe reliability of the research instrument to be usedin this study. Finally, in this study, the factors thatinfluence social media-based knowledge sharingbehavior were limited to organizational, individualand technology factors. With the goal of betterunderstanding the factors that influence socialmedia-based knowledge sharing behavior, theremay be other factors such as social influence factorsthat should be considered. Thus, it is recommendedthat further studies should examine factors relatedto cultural diversity in disaster managementenvironments and the surrounding actual behaviorsof participants in social media-based knowledgesharing.

6. ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors wish to thank the Ministry of HigherEducation Malaysia for funding this study under




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Long Term Research Grant Scheme(LRGS/bu/2012/UUM/TeknologiKomunikasidanInformasi) with Grant No – 4L808, UniversitiTeknologi Malaysia.

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