The effects of responsible leadership and knowledge sharing on job performance among knowledge workers

Abstract

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.

“Being true to oneself”: the interplay of responsible leadership and authenticity on multi-level outcomes

“…In Asian context, specific research investigates RL's effect on micro, meso and macro-level outcomes like unethical pro-organizational behaviour, talent retention, organizational citizenship behaviour, environmental performance, job performance and pandemic management (Yasin et al, 2020;Javed et al, 2020a;Afsar et al, 2020;Zhao and Zhou, 2019;Haque et al, 2019aHaque et al, , 2019bHan et al, 2019;Mehta et al, 2020;Lin et al, 2020). While exploring the Western developed notion of RL in the Asian context, Koh et al (2018) observed that Asian leaders possessed values and traits accordant with the Western concept of RL.…”

Responsibility beyond the Board Room? A Systematic Review of Responsible Leadership: Operationalizations, Antecedents and Outcomes

“…Several studies applied social psychological frameworks such as social exchange theory [70], social identity theory (SIT) [91,99,100], social identity theory of leadership (SITL) [64] and social cognitive theory [81], which all put an emphasis on social mechanisms…”

“…Several studies applied social psychological frameworks such as social exchange theory [70], social identity theory (SIT) [91,99,100], social identity theory of leadership (SITL) [64] and social cognitive theory [81], which all put an emphasis on social mechanisms between individuals or between members in groups. Role theory was applied in a few of the studies [67,79], much in line with the conceptualization of the roles model of responsible leadership [18], where the responsible leader has different roles to play according to different contexts.…”

Ethical Leadership and Knowledge Sharing: The Effects of Positive Reciprocity and Moral Efficacy

“…Success of knowledge management is closely related to staff’s collective sharing of knowledge, skills and experience, which has been increasingly recognized as a significant relevant in promoting creativity, problem solving, and decision making of individuals, teams and even organizations (Bhatti et al, 2020; Song et al, 2017; Yang & Song, 2016; Yuan et al, 2018; Zhang et al, 2016). What’s more, peer knowledge sharing has been proven to have positive impact on organizational performance (i.e., innovation performance, financial performance, individual job performance) (Lin et al, 2020; Muhammed & Zaim, 2020). Despite the various benefits of knowledge sharing, some employees are frequently reluctant to share their knowledge, because it sometimes turns their valuable information into a public good.…”