An application of agent-based simulation to knowledge sharing

This paper explores knowledge sharing using an agent-based simulation model. Built using Repast, our application allows managers to simulate employee knowledge-sharing behaviors by making parametric assumptions on employee decision strategies and organizational interventions that affect identifiability, benefits, and costs. Our results show that in the presence of non-linear and adaptive interaction, unintended and unpredictable outcomes might occur, and that knowledge sharing results from the complex interaction between employee behavior and organizational interventions. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.