The Impact of Vertical Trust on Knowledge Sharing Practices in Innovation Sector Companies

Modern enterprises functioning in conditions of international competition seek factors that support the increase in their market value. One of these is knowledge, which may be shared or exchanged in various forms by employees, managers or employee teams in an organization. Sharing necessary information and professional experience in an organization is essential in order to resolve problems with the aim of achieving innovative solutions. A factor which supports this process of sharing knowledge is that of trust, which has an influence on tightening interpersonal cooperation within employee groups and organizations with the aim of realizing common interests. The most significant entity creating trust in an organization is that of a manager who undertakes actions on behalf of building trust between employees and their superior. The acceptance of the assumption that a manager has an impact on the level of organizational trust facilitated the formulation of the aim of this paper, which is the identification of trust between employees and their head, while also its impact on the practice of sharing knowledge in enterprises of the innovative sector. The assumed aim was executed thanks to the application of the phone survey method with the CATI technique (Computer Assisted Telephone Interview). On the basis of the method of random sampling, a sample was created consisting of 575 employees in enterprises of the innovative sector. As a result of the research conducted, a statistically significant dependency was discovered between the indicators of vertical trust and sharing knowledge, while also experience on the part of employees in the analysed enterprises. The positive impact of trust on the process of accumulating knowledge and the frequency of sharing it have been indicated.