Knowledge Sharing and Organizational Citizenship Behaviour in Hotel Work Settings: A Conceptual Review

The hospitality industry relies heavily on employees’ ability to cooperate, exchange practical knowledge and contribute beyond formal job requirements. Although knowledge sharing and organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) have received considerable attention in organizational and hospitality studies, the relationship between these two forms of employee behaviour remains insufficiently explained in hotel work settings. This conceptual review examines how knowledge sharing may be associated with OCB and considers the workplace processes that may help explain this relationship. Drawing on literature from knowledge management, organizational behaviour and hospitality management, the review integrates Social Exchange Theory and the Knowledge-Based View as complementary theoretical perspectives. The discussion proposes four explanatory pathways linking knowledge sharing with OCB: trust, reciprocity, cooperation and employee confidence. Trust and reciprocity reflect the social-exchange processes that may develop through repeated sharing of useful knowledge and support, while cooperation and employee confidence reflect the practical benefits of having access to shared knowledge. Based on this synthesis, knowledge sharing is positioned as a proposed antecedent of OCB, while the four pathways provide a conceptual explanation of how the association may develop. The review also acknowledges that the relationship may be reciprocal, as citizenship behaviour may in turn encourage knowledge sharing. Practical implications for hotel management include mentoring, team briefings, cross-department communication and recognition practices that support knowledge exchange and voluntary employee contribution. Overall, the paper extends the discussion of knowledge sharing beyond its traditional focus on learning, innovation and performance by highlighting its possible behavioural value in hotel organizations and providing a basis for future empirical research.

Knowledge Sharing, Organizational Citizenship Behaviour, Hospitality Industry, Social Exchange Theory, Conceptual Review

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