Exploring perceptions of organizational ownership of information and expertise

Beliefs of organizational ownership relate to whether information and knowl edge created by an individual knowledge worker are believed to be owned by the organization. Beliefs about property rights affect information and know ledge sharing. This study explored factors that help determine an individua l's beliefs about the organizational ownership of information and expertise that he or she has created. Four different situations of organizational ow nership (information vs. expertise/internal vs, external sharing) were cons idered. The study found that a belief in self-ownership was positively asso ciated with organizational ownership-suggesting a collaborative type of own ership situation for both information and expertise and for both internal ( intraorganizational) and external (interorganizational) sharing situations. Organizational culture and the type of employee also influenced the belief s of organizational ownership in all four scenarios. We conclude the paper with implications for practice and future research.