Inclusive leadership and knowledge sharing in Japanese workplaces: the role of diversity in the biological sex of workplace personnel

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to examine the impact of managers’ inclusive leadership (IL) on knowledge-sharing (KS) behavior. Additionally, the authors consider the cross-level moderation effect of diversity in the biological sex of employees on the relationship between IL and employee KS behaviors.Design/methodology/approachA two-wave questionnaire survey was conducted in a large Japanese company. The sample included 827 employees (254 men and 573 women) in 129 groups. The authors, then, conducted a cross-level analysis using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM).FindingsIL promotes two types of KS among employees: knowledge donating (KD) and knowledge collecting (KC). Additionally, the moderating effects of employee biological-sex diversity on the relationship between IL and KS varied according to the KS type. IL had a positive effect on KD only in groups with higher biological-sex diversity, and did not affect groups with lower biological-sex diversity. Biological-sex diversity did not moderate the relationship between IL and KC.Practical implicationsThis study has practical implications, especially for personnel departments with high diversity in employees’ biological sex. Further, to improve employees’ KS behaviors, it may be important to develop managers’ IL skills.Originality/valueThis is the first study that explores the relationship between IL and KS and the first to provide evidence of the moderating effect of diversity of employee’s biological sex.

Linking paradoxical leadership and individual in-role and extra-role performance: a multilevel examination

“…Our study revealed the positive effects of paradoxical leadership in fostering work engagement ultimately leading to individual performance outcomes in terms of job performance, innovative work behavior and voice behavior. Our multilevel research design also benefits the performance literature by providing a more fine-grained, supervisor–subordinate interface perspective which is limited in the current literature (Morinaga et al. , 2022).…”

“…In particular, by examining how paradoxical leadership would increase employees’ work engagement, and in turn foster employees’ in-role (job performance) and extra-role (innovative work behavior and voice behavior) performance outcomes, we contribute to the work engagement literature, since the majority of existing studies have focused on individual-level antecedents of work engagement, and work engagement and performance (both in-role and extra-role performance) have not been examined together with organizational-level paradoxical leadership. In particular, Morinaga et al. (2022) encouraged more research on the multilevel, antecedent-focused research on work engagement.…”

Stimulating knowledge sharing behaviors for frugal innovation: the roles of inclusive leadership and competitive intensity

“…The theoretical lens of innovation reveals among determinants of innovation such as mission, goals and strategy, leadership, structures and systems, organizational learning, knowledge management and organizational culture (Crossan and Apaydin, 2010; Mendoza-Silva, 2021), emerging-market firms need to focus on the roles of leadership and knowledge resources to foster frugal innovation (Le et al , 2022; Iqbal and Piwowar-Sulej, 2023). Especially, inclusive leadership (IL) is considered as one of the preeminent leadership styles that have a considerable influence on knowledge sharing (KS) behaviors (Morinaga et al , 2022), thereby driving innovation capability of organizations (Gong et al , 2021; Gui et al , 2022). Although IL and KS are considered as prerequisite factors for innovation, limited empirical research has been directed toward the impact of IL and KS behaviors on specific form of innovation (Vladić et al , 2021; Gong et al , 2021; Morinaga et al , 2022) such as frugal innovation.…”

“…Especially, inclusive leadership (IL) is considered as one of the preeminent leadership styles that have a considerable influence on knowledge sharing (KS) behaviors (Morinaga et al , 2022), thereby driving innovation capability of organizations (Gong et al , 2021; Gui et al , 2022). Although IL and KS are considered as prerequisite factors for innovation, limited empirical research has been directed toward the impact of IL and KS behaviors on specific form of innovation (Vladić et al , 2021; Gong et al , 2021; Morinaga et al , 2022) such as frugal innovation. As a result, this study is produced to fill these theoretical gaps and advance the understanding of pathway leading to frugal innovation in emerging countries by following reasons.…”

Inclusive leadership and team climate: the role of team power distance and trust in leadership

“…In addition, the relationship between inclusive leaders and their followers is likely to be influenced by social exchanges (Choi et al, 2015;Korkmaz et al, 2022;Morinaga et al, 2023). Previous studies on inclusion and inclusive leadership have utilised the social exchange theory (SET) to examine the impact of inclusion and its importance for individuals, groups and organisations (Shore et al, 2011;Xiaotao et al, 2018).…”