International Journal of Human Capital and Information Technology Professionals, 2(1), 1-17, January-March 2011 1 Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Keywords: ConceptualFramework,KnowledgeSharing,OrganisationalCulture,Trust,VirtualCommunities INTRODUCTION A real challenge for organisations at the begin- ning of the millennium was “....how to harness the intelligence and spirit of people at all levels of organisation to continually build and share knowledge” (Senge, 1997, p. 32). Since then researchers have shown that knowledge sharing provides business with competitive advantage (Reid, 2003), enhances innovative performance Trust as an Aspect of Organisational Culture: Its Effects on Knowledge Sharing in Virtual Communities Abel Usoro, University of the West of Scotland, UK Imran U. Khan, University of the West of Scotland, UK ABSTRACT Knowledge sharing is of much interest to both practitioners and researchers because of its potential to quicken learning, enhance innovation, reduce costs, and place organisations on a competitive edge. A principal tool for knowledge sharing has been identified by researchers to be virtual communities in which research col- laboration and other knowledge sharing activities easily take place. Some key factors examined in literature as influencing knowledge sharing are technological, economic, and cultural. This paper concentrates on organisation culture with specific focus on trust as its component. While trust has been researched in other contexts, it has not been researched as an organisational cultural component that could affect knowledge sharing in virtual communities. This gap in knowledge is what this paper aims to fill. A conceptual framework is developed to express the relationship between trust components and knowledge sharing in virtual com- munities. The framework will be verified in future empirical research; however, possible implications of the research to research and practice are presented. and reduces redundant learning efforts (Calan- tone, Cavusgil, & Zhao, 2002; Scarbrough, 2001). Most research has discussed technical and economic aspects of knowledge sharing while very limited attention is given to culture specific factors that affect knowledge sharing. Usoro et al. (2006) classified culture that affects knowledge sharing into organisational and so- cietal categories. They also noted that research in culture is predominantly either value-based or work-practice based and this paper takes the work-practice approach. DOI: 10.4018/jhcitp.2011010101