Preventing identity theft: identifying major barriers to knowledge-sharing in online retail organisations

Purpose: Knowledge-sharing (KS) for preventing identity theft has become a major challenge for organisations. The purpose of this paper is to fill a gap in the literature by investigating barriers to effective KS in preventing identity theft in online retail organisations. Design/methodology/approach: A framework was proposed based on a reconceptualisation and extension of the KS enablers framework (Chong et al., 2011). A qualitative case study research method was used for the data collection. In total, 34 semi-structured interviews were conducted in three online retail organisations in the UK. Findings: The findings suggest that the major barriers to effective KS for preventing identify theft in online retail organisations are: lack of leadership support; lack of employee willingness to share knowledge; lack of employee awareness of KS; inadequate learning opportunities; lack of trust in colleagues; insufficient information-sourcing opportunities and information and communications technology infrastructure; a weak KS culture; lack of feedback on performance; and lack of job rotation. Practical implications: The research provides solutions for removing existing barriers to KS in preventing identity theft. This is important to reduce the number of cases of identity theft in the UK. Originality/value: This research extends knowledge of KS in a new context: preventing identity theft in online retail organisations. The proposed framework extends the KS enablers framework by identifying major barriers to KS in the context of preventing identity theft.