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4.2.1. The effectiveness of the incentives used.
Rewards systems are complex and difficult to design. Findings suggest that despite the
presence of the incentives mentioned above, knowledge sharing is still exercised at a minimal
level in Tanzania public university libraries with only 14% (3 out of 21) suggesting informal
sharing. Seventeen out of 21 (81%) suggested meetings while six (29%) for seminars and
one (5%) through head of departments, see 4.1.2 for the discussion about pros and cons
posed by the absence of informal knowledge sharing. Studies by Kimiz suggests that in
practice, informal incentives in form of recognition by management, and visibility within the
organisation can often be more powerful incentives than the formal incentive systems. See
more about informal incentives in (Kimiz, 2005)
As the findings suggest, the availability of rewards has not influenced much the success of
knowledge sharing in Tanzania public university libraries as statistics suggest sharing
exercised below average for all strategies except for meeting scoring 57%. Even though some
gaps were identified as discussed in previous sections which could suggest the ineffectiveness
of knowledge sharing, it is indeed vital to rethink how we design our rewarding systems. No
consistency was found in any type of rewarding system that allows us to conclude that a
particular university is using a particular kind of incentive. The only consistency from a
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