PurposeDrawing upon social exchange theory, this study justified the indirect effects of responsible leadership and knowledge sharing on job performance through the mediation of work engagement and helping initiatives. Job tenure was examined as a moderator.Design/methodology/approachThe hypotheses of this study were empirically tested with structural equation modeling (SEM) and moderated regression analyses. This study conducted a field survey on 512 knowledge workers who employed a high portion of or highly specialized tacit knowledge to do their job.FindingsThis research presented that both work engagement and helping initiatives mediated the indirect effects of responsible leadership and knowledge sharing on job performance. The empirical results revealed that job tenure moderated the relationships between responsible leadership and work engagement, and between responsible leadership and helping initiatives. However, job tenure did not moderate the relationships between knowledge sharing and work engagement, and between knowledge sharing and helping initiatives.Originality/valueThis research is one of the few to verify the key role of responsible leadership from the theoretical aspect of social exchange, complementing the leadership literature based on stakeholder theory. This research is a pioneer by taking into account the simultaneous influences of responsible leadership and knowledge sharing on job performance in a single model setting.

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