Factors that affect scientists’ behavior to share scientific knowledge

Nowadays, it is accepted that development in the modern science is directly related to achieving success in science. The scientists should be able to develop, understand and use the modern scientific methods in their researches. Since, science is developing fast; the scientists should share their scientific knowledge with individuals who attempt to update frequently their information. Studying factors that affect knowledge sharing scientists' behavior should be considered in knowledge era. Therefore, the focus of this paper centers on the behavior of sharing scientist’s acquired knowledge with other scientists in scientific collaboration and co-authorship. Theory of planned behavior (TPB) is adopted and explained the factors of Attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control to predict behavior of scientists. This paper presents sets of critical factors such as individual, organizational and technological that is believed to affect on knowledge sharing behaviors. Overall, the results of this study advance prior research in the area of knowledge sharing by shedding light on the determinants of knowledge sharing behaviors, and develop the better understanding of knowledge sharing for the scientists who attempt improve their knowledge in scientific collaboration in the future.