THE IMPACT OF WORKFORCE AGILITY ON KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON THE ACADEMICS WORKING IN THE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY OF GAZA AND AL-AZHAR UNIVERSITY IN GAZA STRIP

This Empirical study aims to investigate the impact of workforce agility on Knowledge Management on the academics who are working in the Islamic University of Gaza and Al-Azhar University in Gaza strip. The study used quantitative method distributing a questionnaire and adapted the descriptive analytical approach. HR agility is the independent variable with four sub variables: proactivity, flexibility and adaptability, resilience and competence, while knowledge management is the dependent variable with also four sub variables: creation, storage and retrieval, transfer and application. The study found that there is a significant relationship between the two variables and also there is a significant effect of (flexibility and adaptability, resilience and competence) on knowledge management, but there is an in significant effect of (proactivity) on knowledge management. It is recommended to have more deep studies on workforce agility and knowledge management, study the impact of employees’ proactivity on knowledge management. Also, it is recommended for IUG and AUG to hire more females as academics and to aware their staff about the new HR characteristics which are needed in the rapid changeable environment..

and respond to changes in unpredictable market conditions." Likewise, (Tessarini Junior & Saltorato, 2021) concluded the meaning of it as, "workers' ability to adjust to a fast-changing, flexible and uncertain work environment through proactive and adaptive knowledge, skills, behaviors, and attitudes." So, WFA is about multiskilled employees who are alerted to any unexpected or expected events and have the capability to deal with them in an efficient way. (Tessarini Junior & Saltorato, 2021) reviewed WFA's studies and asked what an agile employee is and answered it by assigning four dimensions out of the literature: 1. Proactivity is about motivated, curious and collaborated employees who are more likely to take important decisions and possess problem solving skills. (Petermann & Zacher, 2022) explained proactivity as the workers with anticipation behaviors, initiating behaviors and have a positive impact on their surroundings.
2. Flexibility and adaptability refers to the ability to do multi tasks simultaneously. An employee who learns new tasks, skills, and procedures continually is able to get along with others with their different backgrounds, puts several cinereous of what comes next in the work's environment and has the ability to express his/her self is an adaptable employee (Petermann & Zacher, 2022). 3. Resilience is connected to proactivity which means having a positive attitudes towards the changes as well as the need to work under possible stressful and unexpected circumstances. To master it, dealing with these stressful and unexpected situations should be functioned effectively (Petermann & Zacher, 2022). 4. Competence refers to the speed to understand and develop new ideas, knowledge, technologies and work procedures and the ability to deal with them especially the technological information and tools.
WFA needs aspects to promote it to any organization that is going through unstable events. (Tessarini Junior & Saltorato, 2021) concluded them in a table as the following : 1-Learning and training includes four aspects : a. Cross training is one of training practices that is attached to workforce agility which was applied to operation management like, factories that give the employees the ability to execute multi tasks when needed. b. Cognitive abilities are linked to promote agility such as, problem solving skills, logical thinking and reasoning. c. Organizational learning is about the existence of learning environment in the organization in addition to the employees' ability to learn while working whether in a direct or indirect way. d. Practical application of knowledge 2-Work organization includes four aspects: a. Control over work and autonomy refers to give the employees the chance to control their own work which it is a predictor of agile workforce. It is also agreed between researchers that autonomy enhances workforce agility. b. Teamwork and collaboration: it is not agreed between all studies that teamwork has a direct relationship with agility, but it exists in some studies. On the other hand, it is agreed between researchers that collaboration enhances workforce agility. c. Job enrichment, job enlargement and job rotation give workers more sharing, so that power which makes them more capable to perform mutable tasks. This is a way for agility. d. Self-managed team is a result of the mastering the pervious points in which all promote employees agility.
3-Human resource management includes seven aspects : a. Skill-based pay. b. Team-based production incentives. c. Non-monetary rewards, are all improve agility and more effective than the traditional way to rewarding. d. Feedback. e. Talent management is enhanced by recruiting employees with certain characteristics like, motivation, attitudes, behaviors, and physical and cognitive abilities which promote their agility. f. Agility goal setting may increase agility. g. Staffing motivates agility. 4-Culture and structure includes two aspects : a. Horizontal structure means reducing hierarchy and this is a significant role to enhance workforce agility. b. Information and communication: an effective communication system and information transformation are key points to enhance agility.

Knowledge management (KM)
Knowledge (K) is defined by (Kaur, 2015) as," familiarity, awareness or understanding of someone or something, such as facts, truths, or principles, which is acquired through experience or education by perceiving, discovering, or learning." Also, (Sulistiawan, Moslehpour, Diana, & Lin, 2022) illustrated the meaning of K as," a resource has gradually become the core resource of organizations in the era of the knowledge economy". This is a conformation of what (Canonico, Esposito, De Nito, Iacono, & Consiglio, 2019) expressed that K is significant to achieve competitive advantage and this can't be accomplished without managing K by creation, storing, diffusion and transfer. Managing K clearly intents to lead K in a way to benefit the firm. Similarly, (Sarayreh, Mardawi, & Dmour, 2012) explained that KM is about collecting all the ideas and experiences to leverage the firm's function.
The forms of K can't be ignored and not mentioning them in the field of K because they are the basics of its process. K's forms are as explained by (Canonico, Esposito, De Nito, Iacono, & Consiglio, 2019):

1-
Explicit knowledge can easily be demonstrated, went through procedures, transferred and saved. Likely, (Baláž, Williams, Moravčíková, & Chrančoková, 2019) said," explicit knowledge is relatively easy to codify and transfer. Its transfer often involves virtually no cost." Hence, it is the kind of (K) that can be measured.

2-
Tacit knowledge can't be recognized but to oneself; it is not easy to transfer it to others by languages because it is deep in a shape of actions, attitudes, emotions and behavior. (Baláž, Williams, Moravčíková, & Chrančoková, 2019) assured this as, "tacit knowledge is tied to its bearer (an individual or a society). The transfer of tacit knowledge is most effectively realized via human mobility which enables face-to-face exchanges, or direct observation." likewise, (Yee, Tan, & Thurasamy, 2019) confirmed this," Tacit knowledge is difficult to transmit outside the network in which it was established." This type of (K) is hard to measure.
To activate KM, K goes through a process and four activities as explained in (Sanguankaew & Ractham, 2019) :

1-
Knowledge Creation is either emergence of new (K), or alteration of a standing one which it is a way of innovation. This also was assured by (Kaur, 2015) as," knowledge creation is also supported by relevant information and data which can improve decisions and serve as building blocks in the creation of new knowledge." The process of knowledge creation is the core of organizational knowledge creation leading to organizational competitive advantage. According to (Canonico, Esposito, De Nito, Iacono, & Consiglio, 2019), this process depends on the interaction between tacit and explicit knowledge known as knowledge conversion.

2-
Knowledge Storage and Retrieval stands for keeping, holding and sharing knowledge over time and space to minimize work duplication and wasting resources. Likewise, (Arpaci, Al-Emran, & Al-Sharafi, 2020) clarified knowledge storage as the techniques of store and recover all types of data, information and (K).

3-
Knowledge Transfer is using different communication tools to distribute (K) to every individuals, groups or organizations. According to (Krylova, Vera, & Crossan, 2016), (K) transfer is a continuous process that includes challenges and opportunities which can't be anticipated form the beginning. This process depends also, as knowledge creation, on the interaction between tacit and explicit knowledge known as knowledge conversion (Canonico, Esposito, De Nito, Iacono, & Consiglio, 2019).

4-
Knowledge Application is the process of implementation and application of (K) to reach the needed competitive advantage and make it real. The study of (John & Spender, 2015) clarified (K) application within Chine's context as," utilizing the knowledge and technology generated into new products and processes." To implement the system of KM, management has to convince its employees about its benefits for them as individuals and for the firm itself. People will be more motivated when they realize how KM affects their performance and the intellectual competence. (Yee, Tan, & Thurasamy, 2019) clarified two approaches that management can apply :

1-
The stick approach is about sending daily remainders and emails to the employees commanding them to share (K) in their day to day interactions and engagements. Employees respond to this approach more than the coming one.

2-
The carrot approach is about encouraging the employees to keep, improve and share (K) by adding more credit to the year-end job performance appraisal. This approach is better than the stick approach when it comes to (K) quality. DOI: 10.56734/ijbms.v4n7a5 51 | www.ijbms.net The relationship between workforce and knowledge management: The concept of K is at the first place related to human action which requires different human interactions like, experiences and education to be gained. Further, one definition of KM is concluded by (Kaur, 2015), as "Knowledge Management is the concept of professional practice which improves the capabilities of human resources of the organization and enhances their ability to share what they know." Alike, (John & Spender, 2015) asserted that the elements of KM are processes, technology or culture and people. (Yee, Tan, & Thurasamy, 2019) stated deeply how important and essential the employees are in the circle of KM and how the organization should involve them in the process by asserting the benefits of KM and what they can gain out of it. The researchers asserted," organizational management must build trust and mutual confidence through transparency, communication, and ethical behavior to motivate employees for knowledge management." Hence, the workforce is a significant component of the KM process whether as a main source of K or as a tool to apply and improve KM.

Study Methodology:
The descriptive analytical approach was adopted, as according to (Frankenfield, 2022), the descriptive approach describes the state of affairs as it exists at present as it is reported by the researcher as it has happened to understand changes that have occurred. While, in the analytical approach the researcher has to use facts or information already available, and analyze these to make a critical evaluation of the material.

Study Data Sources:
The data sources are as follows: 1.
The secondary data sources: This includes textbooks, journals, research papers, records, and web sites.

2.
The primary data sources: This includes the questionnaire that was developed and administered to collect the needed data from the research sample.

Study Population and Sample:
According to the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG), there are 346 academics while, there are 165 academics working in AL-Azhar University (AUG) (February, 2023). The academics in both universities are in a fixed employment contracts. A stratified random sample was used to collect the date; the sample size was determined using the following equation (Moore et. al. 2003): 2 ( Accordingly, the sample is 220 academics divided as 149 from IUG and 71 from AUG; out of 238 questioners were distributed, 228 were returned.

Study Tool Design and Data Measurement Scale:
A questionnaire was designed to study -The Impact of Workforce Agility on Knowledge Management between the academics working in the Islamic University of Gaza and Al-Azhar University in Gaza strip-. The questionnaire included the following sections:

1.
Section one: Includes research sample characteristics which are: (gender, age, academic qualification, years of experience as a lecturer and current workplace).
A 1 to 10 scale was used to answer the questionnaire items. As 10 indicates the highest level of approval, where 1 indicates the lowest level of approval.

) -Data Measurement Scale
Validity of the Questionnaire: is used to test the validity of the questionnaire. It is measured through measuring the correlation coefficients between each item in a field and the whole field. It is measured between 0.498 and 0.894.
Structure Validity: It varies between 0.674 and 0.902.

Reliability of the Questionnaire:
The normal range of Cronbach's coefficient alpha value between 0.0 and + 1.0, and the higher values reflect a higher degree of internal consistency. The value of Cronbach's Alpha equals 0.938; this value is considered high which indicates an excellent reliability of the entire scale.
Descriptive Analysis of the Sample Personal Characteristics: 1-Gender: Table (2) clarifies that 85.1% of the respondents are men, while 14.9 % are females. This reflects that women's academic journey is subjected to the social standards and responsibilities which restrict their existence in this field.

Personal Information Frequency Percent
Gender

3-Academic qualification:
Table (4) shows that 28.1 % of the respondents have a master degree and 71.9 % of them have a PhD. This reflects the role of recruiting in these university preparing to hire PhD holders which suits the nature of the academic work.

4-Years of experience as a lecturer:
Table (5) represents that 21.9 % of the respondents have been working as lecturers for less than 10 years and 78.1 % of them have been working as lecturers for more than 10 years reflecting their commitment to their jobs.

Personal Information Frequency Percent
Years of experience as a lecturer Less than 5 years 26 11.4 5 -Less than 10 years 24 10.5 10 -Less than 15 years 47 20.6 15 years or more 131 57.5

Analysis for each field
The mean, standard deviation, proportional mean and T test-value, were used for data analysis purposing all fields and items of the questionnaire to determine the tendency and ranking according to the following:

1.1
Proactivity Table (7) shows item "You can take important decisions" was ranked first by having the highest proportional mean valued 91.27%, where item "You consider yourself a curious employee" was ranked eighth by having the lowest proportional mean valued 50.35%. In general, the items of the "Proactivity" were statistically high with a proportional mean valued 80.17%.
The finding of the entire item agrees with the literature of workforce agility which the study of (Tamtam & Tourabi, 2020) is one of , but the low ranking of item 2 "You consider yourself a curious employee" surprisingly disagrees with the findings of (Storme, Suleyman, Gotlib, & Lubart, 2020) which said that the curious employees have the privilege to respond to changes. This finding reflects the negative connotation of curiosity from both social and religious perspectives which do not differentiate between job-related curiosity or personal-related curiosity. This was expressed directly by the responses during filling the questionnaire.   (8) shows item "You have the ability to get along with others with their different backgrounds" was ranked first by having the highest proportional mean valued 86.05%, where item "You have the ability to do multi tasks simultaneously" was ranked fifth by having the lowest proportional mean valued 81.36%. In general, the items of the "Flexibility and adaptability" were statistically high with a proportional mean valued 83.48%.
This result agrees with the literature of workforce agility like, (Saeed, et al., 2022) which concluded that workforce agility has several characteristics in which flexibility and adaptability are one of.   (9) shows item "You show positive attitudes towards the changes" was ranked first by having the highest proportional mean valued 83.22%, where item "You need to work under unexpected circumstances" was ranked fourth by having the lowest proportional mean valued 77.68%. In general, the items of the "Resilience" were statistically high with a proportional mean valued 80.39%.
This result supports (Petermann & Zacher, 2022) with their developed model of workforce agility in which supports resilience as a main dimension to measure workforce agility. Competence Table (10) shows item "You can deal with the new ideas" was ranked first by having the highest proportional mean valued 85.44%, where item "You can understand and develop new technologies quickly" was ranked eighth by having the lowest proportional mean valued 78.38%. In general, the items of the "Competence" were statistically high with a proportional mean valued 82.47%.
This result comes along with (Patil & Suresh, 2017) who confirmed competency, it is also called selfawareness, as one of workforce agility's enablers defined as quick developing new skills, information and technologies that fit the changes.  Table (10) -Competence * The mean is significantly different from 5.5 HR agility Table (11) shows the mean of all items equals 8.16 (81.60%), Test-value = 35.39 and P-value =0.000 which is smaller than the level of significance 0.05  . The sign of the test is positive, so the mean is significantly greater than the hypothesized value 5.5. It is concluded that the respondents agreed to "HR agility ".
The result of the each item supports other studies. For instance, the "Flexibility and adaptability" item agrees with (Qin & Nembhard, 2015) who assured that workforce flexibility as a main contribution to develop and enhance workforce agility. As for the "competence" item, (Tessarini Junior & Saltorato, 2021) built their workforce agility's framework where competence is one of the variables that reflects the meaning of it. Also, the findings agrees with (Munteanu, Bibu, Nastase, Cristache, & Matis, 2020) who confirmed that agile employees pro-act to find applicable solutions. To emphasize the relationship between agility and resilience, (Braun, Hayes, Frautschy DeMuth, & Taran, 2017) concluded that resilience reduces the stress coming along with agility's demands.

2.
Knowledge management 2.1 Creation Table (12) shows item "You consider yourself an innovative employee" was ranked first by having the highest proportional mean valued 84.30%, where item "You can translate your emotions into a clear knowledge" was ranked seventh by having the lowest proportional mean valued 80.44%. In general, the items of the "Creation" were statistically high with a proportional mean valued 82.83%.
This finding supports the outcome of (von Krogh, Nonaka, & Rechsteiner, 2012) that assured that knowledge creation in organization is a shared efforts from the employees, as individuals, and the level of organizational knowledge.  Table (13) shows item "You can make use of knowledge to avoid work duplication" was ranked first by having the highest proportional mean valued 82.54%, where item "You can recover all types of data, information and knowledge" was ranked fifth by having the lowest proportional mean valued 78.38%. In general, the items of the "Storage and retrieval" were statistically high with a proportional mean valued 81.04%.

Storage and retrieval
This findings agrees with the outcome of (Prusak, 2019) that said that preventing knowledge from loss is one of the main functions and tasks during operating knowledge management. Also, (Yee, Tan, & Thurasamy, 2019) confirmed that people improve their knowledge by taking in to consideration its usage and storage.  Table (13)-Storage and retrieval * The mean is significantly different from 5.5

2.3
Transfer Table (14) shows item "You use different communication tools to deliver knowledge to your colleagues" was ranked first by having the highest proportional mean valued 83.64%, where item "You use different communication tools to deliver knowledge to the organization" was ranked fourth by having the lowest proportional mean valued 81.05%. In general, the items of the "Transfer" were statistically high with a proportional mean valued 82.45%. The meaning of "transfer" agrees with the core meaning of knowledge which is sharing one's point of view as defined by (Kaur, 2015). The findings supports also the researcher conclusion of KM as enhancing the capabilities of human recourse and their ability to share their knowledge.  Table (14)-Transfer * The mean is significantly different from 5.5 Table (15) shows item "Knowledge's application leads to competitive advantage" was ranked first by having the highest proportional mean valued 83.60%, where item "You can make you of the knowledge and turn it to products or services" was ranked fourth by having the lowest proportional mean valued 75.00%. In general, the items of the "Application" were statistically high with a proportional mean valued 80.68%.

Application
This result agrees with (Sanguankaew & Ractham, 2019) who confirmed that applying knowledge is to put knowledge into practice leading to competitive advantage. In addition, the findings supports (John & Spender, 2015) who said that knowledge application in China is not only about putting knowledge into application, but also arising questions form knowledge perspective. . The sign of the test is positive, so the mean is significantly greater than the hypothesized value 5.5. It is concluded that the respondents agreed to "Knowledge management ". The positive result agrees with the literature of KM emphasizing its four process: creation, storage and retrieval, transfer and application like, (Sanguankaew & Ractham, 2019) and (John & Spender, 2015).

Research Hypothesis
1. There is a statistically significant relationship at level α ≤ 0.05 between workforce agility, and knowledge management.
To test this hypothesis, the Pearson correlation coefficient was used and the following table illustrates this. Table ( 17) shows that the correlation coefficient between workforce agility and knowledge management equals 0.744 and the p-value (Sig.) equals 0.000. The p-value (Sig.) is less than 0.05, so the correlation coefficient is statistically significant at α = 0.05. It is concluded that there is a significant relationship between workforce agility and knowledge management.
This result supports the theoretical framework of (Almahamid, 2018) which hypnotized the existing of the relationship between workforce agility and knowledge management (process). On the other hand, this study proves the theory and assures the relationship between WFA and KM, but it differs in accordance to the sub-variables.
In addition, (Carvalho, Sampaio, Rebentisch, Carvalho, & Saraiva, 2017) explained that workforce is "crucial" to apply agility and KM is one of organizational agility enablers. Consecutively, workforce agility is a main element to reach organizational agility (Sherehiy & Karwowski , 2014) As a result, the above finding clarifies and reinforces the relationship between WFA and KM. The Multiple correlation coefficient R =0.820 and R-Square = 0.667. This means 66.7% of the variation in knowledge management is explained by all of the independent variables together " Proactivity, Flexibility and adaptability, Resilience and Competence".

Creation Storage and retrieval Transfer Application Knowledge management
-The Analysis of Variance for the regression model. F=114.611, p-value (Sig.) less than 0.05, so there is a significant relationship between the dependent variable knowledge management and the independent variables "Proactivity, Flexibility and adaptability, Resilience and Competence".
-For the variable "Proactivity ", the t-test =0.622, the P-value (Sig.) more than 0.05, hence this variable is statistically in significant. Then there is in significant effect of the variable Proactivity on knowledge management. This result disagrees with (Sherehiy, Karwowski, & Layer, 2007) who said that the process of KM facilitates employees' proactivity, adaptability and resilience.
-For the variable " Flexibility and adaptability ", the t-test =1.715, the P-value (Sig.) less than 0.05, hence this variable is statistically significant. Since the sign of the test is positive, then there is significant positive effect of the variable flexibility and adaptability on knowledge management. This supports (Almahamid, 2018) who confirmed that the new developed K makes the employee to "modify" the behavior adapting the changing surroundings.
-For the variable "Resilience ", the t-test =3.924, the P-value (Sig.) less than 0.05, hence this variable is statistically significant. Since the sign of the test is positive, then there is a significant positive effect of the variable resilience on knowledge management. In this study of (Almahamid, 2018), the researcher studied WFA and KM theoretically expressing that resilience is a behavior that relies on adaptability and proactivity in which the result of this study agrees with it when it comes of adaptability ,but disagrees with proactivity. Resilience, as a workforce agility's variable, and KM is still under study; however, this finding supports (Almahamid, 2018)'s hypothesis of possible relationship between KM process (Creation/Acquisition, Sharing, and Application) and resilience, as a behavior.
For the variable "Competence ", the t-test =11.509, the P-value (Sig.) less than 0.05, hence this variable is statistically significant. Since the sign of the test is positive, then there is significant positive effect of the variable competence on knowledge management. This outcome goes along with (Almahamid, 2018) who empathized that K creation, one of KM process, enhances agile behaviors like, possessing multi competences, adaptability and proactivity and resilience.

Conclusions
The study comes into the following conclusion: 1.
There is a male domination between the academic staff of IUG and AUG with 85.1 % between the respondents reflecting the social restrictions on women's professional life as known by Glass ceiling.

2.
Proactivity is a significant component of HR agility. The respondents show positive reaction towards proactivity's characteristics, but they show the opposite towards the characteristic of "curiosity". This reflects the social and religious perspectives of "curiosity".

3.
Flexibility and adaptability is significant component of HR agility. The respondents show that they are flexible and adaptable to different cinereous.

4.
Resilience is a significant component of HR agility. The respondents show that they can work under stress and deal with unexpected circumstances. 5.
Competence is a significant component of HR agility. The respondents can understand and deal with newly work's procedures, knowledge, ideas and technologies. 6.
The combination of proactivity, flexibility and adaptability, resilience and competence creates an agile employee. 7.
K creation is an important component of knowledge management. The respondents show that they can make use of the old K and create new one to be innovative. Also, they can translate their actions, attitudes, emotions and behavior into clear K. 8.
K Storage and retrieval is an important component of knowledge management. The respondents show that they can save k and restore it after a while of saving it. 9.
K Transfer is an important component of knowledge management. The respondents show that they can deliver the needed K and information to whose needs them. 10.
K application is an important component of knowledge management. The respondents show that they can make use of their K in a shape of services to the academic field. 11.
The combination of K creation, K Storage and retrieval, K Transfer and K application process an employee the skill of K management. 12.
There is a significant relationship between workforce agility and knowledge management. 13.
There is a statistically significant impact at level α ≤ 0.05 of workforce agility on knowledge management. 14.
There is a significant positive effect of the variables (flexibility and adaptability, resilience and competence) on knowledge management.

15.
There is an insignificant effect of the variable proactivity on knowledge management.

Recommendations
Upon the above outcomes, these are some recommendations to enhance both workforce agility and knowledge management: 1-Further studies are still needed to explore the effect of WFA on KM more deeply in different contexts.

2-
More independent studies are needed to explore the effect of proactivity on knowledge management. 3-It is recommended for IUG and AUG to recruit more females to add variety in accordance of knowledge and experiences. 4-It is recommended for IUG and AUG to introduce the recent HR characteristics to their employees that are needed and required in the changeable environment.