thesis_Daniela Noethen_print final - Jacobs University

Preventing Knowledge Loss When Employees Expect to Leave
In contrast to turnover intention, expected involuntary turnover does seem to have very
negative consequences for knowledge sharing and might, thus, put the organization at a risk
of losing knowledge. But, again in contrast to voluntary turnover, involuntary turnover is
decided on by the organization, and is therefore very predictable. Accordingly, measures can
be taken to counteract employees’ withdrawal from knowledge transfer processes, and the risk
of knowledge loss can be reduced. As the results of this study show, one measure against
withdrawal from knowledge sharing is PSS, specifically PSS for knowledge sharing. Losing
one’s job can constitute a threat to a person’s sense of value and worth (Schneer, 1993). But
when supervisors assure that the employees’ knowledge is needed and valued, they can
counteract this impression. Thus, although involuntary turnover can have negative
consequences (and this even before it takes place), these consequences can be prevented
through positive involvement of the supervisor.
4.6.3. Limitations
There are certain limitations to the present study that should be noted when interpreting the
results. First of all, we only studied knowledge sharing within teams. Of course, it might well
be that employees who intend or expect to leave the organization are sharing their knowledge
with other people outside their team, or they might try to document it in writing and thereby
retain it for the organization. In these cases, knowledge sharing within the team, which is
what we measured, might still be the same or even lower, but this would not necessarily mean
that the employees’ knowledge is at risk of being lost. Furthermore, we only measure the
frequency, i.e., quantity of knowledge sharing, but not the quality or different types of
knowledge, such as tacit and explicit knowledge (Nonaka, 1994; Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995;
Nonaka & von Krogh, 2009). When employees are expecting to leave the organization, they
can withdraw from knowledge sharing either by reducing the quantity or the quality of
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