Knowledge Sharing in Enterprise Business Simulative Games: An Empirical Analysis

Enterprise Simulative Games are commonly introduced to students at universities as means of exposing them to real world business challenges. They are designed to challenge the students’ previously acquired knowledge and expertise. They aim to improve the students’ general business and enterprise management skills. Success in the game is a reflection of effective “constant” interactions among the students in the groups as well as the proper use of the diverse knowledge possessed by the members and/or disseminated by the CEO and the lecturers. In addition, effective sharing of what they know is integral to winning over the other groups. This is essential for their success in the game. It is anticipated that the increase in the sharing of knowledge during the game activities increases the groups’ chances of having competitive edge over their peers. In this research, we investigated the effects of organisational context, motivational factors and personal characteristics on the knowledge sharing during the students’ participation in the simulative games. Based on data analysis methods, the research findings demonstrated that these factors have positive effects on the knowledge shared among group members in groups. The paper also found that individual characteristics increase the knowledge sharing if it is coupled with motivational factors rather than individual characteristics alone.