Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Knowledge ...

Zoltán Gaál et al
investigated middle manager’s availability to o<strong>the</strong>r middle managers working on <strong>the</strong> same
organizational level when <strong>the</strong> investigated middle manager is asked for help,
o<strong>the</strong>r middle managers’ availability working on <strong>the</strong> same organizational level to <strong>the</strong> investigated
middle manager when to <strong>the</strong> investigated middle manager asks for help,
<strong>the</strong> investigated middle manager’s availability to his/her subordinates when <strong>the</strong> investigated
middle manager is asked for help,
availability <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> investigated middle managers’ subordinates to <strong>the</strong> investigated middle manager
when <strong>the</strong> investigated middle manager asks for help.
The usefulness <strong>of</strong> knowledge is measured as follows:
usefulness <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> knowledge given by <strong>the</strong> investigated middle manager to o<strong>the</strong>r middle managers
working on <strong>the</strong> same organizational level,
usefulness <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> knowledge given by o<strong>the</strong>r middle managers working on <strong>the</strong> same organizational
level to <strong>the</strong> investigated middle manager,
usefulness <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> knowledge given by <strong>the</strong> investigated middle manager to his/her subordinates,
usefulness <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> knowledge given by <strong>the</strong> investigated middle manager’s subordinates to <strong>the</strong>
investigated middle manager.
In order to answer <strong>the</strong> research question <strong>the</strong> following Hypo<strong>the</strong>sis has been stated:
Hypo<strong>the</strong>sis: Middle managers’ maturity <strong>of</strong> knowledge sharing who work at medium- and
large-sized enterprises can be characterised by <strong>the</strong> availability among middle managers,
<strong>the</strong> availability among <strong>the</strong> middle manager and his/her subordinates, <strong>the</strong> usefulness <strong>of</strong>
knowledge among <strong>the</strong> middle managers, and <strong>the</strong> usefulness <strong>of</strong> knowledge among <strong>the</strong>
middle manager and his/her subordinates.
The arrows in Figure 1 represent <strong>the</strong> elements that are examined regarding this Hypo<strong>the</strong>sis.
Figure 1: Elements <strong>of</strong> maturity <strong>of</strong> knowledge sharing under investigation
3.2 Method chosen for testing <strong>the</strong> hypo<strong>the</strong>sis
The initial assumption regarding <strong>the</strong> investigated middle managers’ maturity <strong>of</strong> knowledge sharing
was that it could be described by four elements. Fur<strong>the</strong>rmore <strong>the</strong>se elements could retain as much <strong>of</strong>
<strong>the</strong> information <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> original variables as possible. Thus principal component analysis (PCA) has
been chosen, since <strong>the</strong> requirements <strong>of</strong> retaining large amount <strong>of</strong> information <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> original variables
by four components can be tested and proved by <strong>the</strong> usage <strong>of</strong> PCA. Ano<strong>the</strong>r reason <strong>of</strong> choosing this
method is that <strong>the</strong> principal components are based upon <strong>the</strong> measured responses (DeCoster 1998).
Fur<strong>the</strong>rmore as a result <strong>of</strong> PCA <strong>the</strong> number <strong>of</strong> principal components is also less <strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong> number <strong>of</strong>
variables, and this method reduces <strong>the</strong> number <strong>of</strong> variables as well (Myatt, Johnson 2009).
3.3 Data collection
The data collection was supported by Department <strong>of</strong> Management, University <strong>of</strong> Pannonia between
2007 and 2010. 4000 medium- and large-sized enterprises in Hungary have been selected randomly
from <strong>the</strong> average number <strong>of</strong> 5780 and questionnaires have been sent to <strong>the</strong>m by post and via e-mail.
The enterprises have been asked to have <strong>the</strong> questionnaire filled in by at least one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir middle
managers. The questionnaire <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> survey comprises seven categories. One <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m is Maturity <strong>of</strong>
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