Factors affecting knowledge sharing and its effect on performance of vocational higher education of agriculture in Java

Abstract

The agricultural sector have important role for a country. The level of performance of the agricultural sector of a country depends on the quality of education in agriculture. Basically agricultural vocational education in Indonesia was established in each region in order to meet the human resources in accordance with the potential of the area. Therefore, if the agricultural lecturers that have different specialties can share the knowledge among each other it is expected that the that one lecturer can provide knowledge that is appropriate for the processing of agricultural potential in these areas eventhough it is not his speciality. So it is not depending on the specific agricultural science owned by lecturers but it depends on the potential of the area. It can be anticipated by increasing knowledge sharing among educators. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the factors that influence knowledge sharing among educators in vocational higher education of agriculture. In addition, note also whether knowledge sharing affects the performance of educators and affect the performance of the institution. This study was conducted with the literature study, interviews, and surveys. Survey data were analyzed using Partial Least Square method - Structural Equation Modeling. The results of this study indicate that knowledge sharing is one of the factors that can improve the performance of educators and can improve the performance of vocational higher education of agriculture. Knowledge sharing in this domain is strongly influenced by attitudes, personal expectations, tacit knowledge, the IT infrastructure, knowledge of the IT usage, the ability of educators, and organizational culture.