Determining the components of service value creation in academic libraries through knowledge sharing

Abstract

Background and objective. The major objective of a library is to support the educational, research, and cultural system libraries are valuated as driver elements of efficient and effective activities and services of the supporting and healing process, in addition to the aforementioned goals. The impact of knowledge on service organizations is higher compared to manufacturing organizations, and on the other hand, the ever-increasing number of service organizations has attracted more attention to this valuable asset in the world of service business. Library and internet investigations regarding the knowledge sharing behavior among librarians and service value creation for users in university libraries completely signify the fact that in our country, despite the many studies conducted in the field of knowledge sharing and service quality, modeling the impact of knowledge sharing on service value creation in the country s university library environments has been entirely abandoned. The aim of this study was to determine the components and provide a process model for creating service value in academic libraries through knowledge sharing behavior among librarians. Methodology: This research is applied in terms of purpose, and exploratory in terms of survey approach. The statistical population of this study was 19 experts in the fields of knowledge management and librarians who had full knowledge of the structure and status of university libraries and the duties of librarians working in these libraries. An in-depth interview was conducted until the theoretical saturation. In this phase of the research, the snowball sampling method was used. To do so, the first expert was selected according to preliminary investigations and more experts (among university professors, executive managers of university libraries, and experienced advisors) that have authority regarding knowledge management and service management and can help enrich the research model. In the qualitative phase of the research, the grounded theory method was implemented, and thus the main tool for data collection was conducting in-depth and unstructured interviews with experts in the marketing field. In these interviews, the researcher attempted to softly approach the discussion and gain the initial trust of the interviewees in order to pose questions regarding the antecedents and grounds for service value creation for university library users via the knowledge sharing behavior among librarians, the environmental factors impacting it, the consequences of this phenomena.