This article examines the role of monetary rewards in encouraging knowledge sharing in organizations through four mechanisms of knowledge sharing. We argue that the system of contributing knowledge to databases is the most amenable to rewards contingent on knowledge sharing behaviors because
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Organizational knowledge has been recognized as a valuable intangible resource that holds the key to competitive advantage (Grant, 1996). However, Spender and Grant (1996) noted that despite recent interest in organizationally embedded knowledge, little progress has been made "in understanding its anatomy and creation" (p. 6). Researchers have argued that since individuals are the prime movers of knowledge creation in an organization (Nonaka, 1994), knowledge sharing among individuals could assist in knowledge creation at a collective level. Senge (1990) proposed that organizational knowledge is created through communication of individual learning among co-workers. Similarly, Nahapiet and Ghoshal (1998) postulated that organizational knowledge is created as a result of the combination and exchange of existing knowledge among employees. Thus, given the importance of knowledge sharing, scholars and practitioners would be interested in identifying tools that enhance knowledge sharing within the organization. Our paper examines the role of one such mechanism, organizational reward systems, in influencing knowledge sharing by employees.