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How knowledge sharing
encourages innovative work
behavior through occupational
self-efficacy? The moderating role
of entrepreneurial leadership
Talat Islam and Iram Zahra
Institute of Business Administration, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
Saif Ur Rehman
School of Business, Skyline University College, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, and
Saqib Jamil
Department of Management Sciences, University of Okara, Okara, Pakistan
Abstract
Purpose –Innovation has become a necessity for the information technology (IT) sector, especially during
COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this study aims to investigate how knowledge sharing affects employees’
innovative work behavior (IWB). Specifically, the study examined occupational self-efficacy (as mediating
mechanism) and entrepreneurial leadership (as boundary condition) to encourage IWB.
Design/methodology/approach –The study used social media platforms to collect data from 270
employees working in the IT sector through “google forms”on convenience basis between March and August,
2021. The study applied structural equation modeling in two stages to examine the measurement model (for uni-
dimensionality) and the structural model (for hypotheses testing).
Findings –The study noted that knowledge sharing positively affects employees’IWB and occupational
self-efficacy positively explains this association. In addition, employees’perception of entrepreneurial
leadership strengthens the associationbetween knowledge sharing and IWB.
Research limitations/implications –The study collected data from a developing country during
COVID-19 by using a cross-sectional design that may restrict causality. However, the findings suggest the
management not only encourages knowledge sharing environment but also engages employees in various
training that motivate them to experiment with new ideas and techniques.
Originality/value –This study extends the existing literature on knowledge sharing and IWB by exploring
occupational self-efficacy as mediating mechanism and entrepreneurial leadership as a boundary condition.
Keywords Knowledge sharing, Innovative work behavior, Entrepreneurial leadership,
Occupational self-efficacy, Information technology, COVID-19
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Innovation has become necessity for organizations to achieve developmental goals (Pian
et al.,2019) and improve performance (Ullah et al., 2021a,2021b) that leads to business
growth (Liu et al.,2020). According to Pian et al. (2019), innovation includes generating,
The authors are thankful to the Editor, Associate Editor, Reviewers and Participants of this study.
Innovative
work behavior
Received 18 February2022
Revised 28 March 2022
14 May 2022
Accepted 6 June 2022
Global Knowledge, Memory and
Communication
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2514-9342
DOI 10.1108/GKMC-02-2022-0041
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/2514-9342.htm
selecting and implementing new ideas based on intangible resources such as knowledge and
employee creativity. Nowadays, the importance of knowledge is essential because the world
has become a knowledge-shared economy (Akram et al.,2020;Okour et al.,2021). This is the
reason that organizations have shifted their focus toward enhancing knowledge sharing
among employees (Usmanova et al., 2020). According to Chaudhary et al. (2021), knowledge-
sharing is an individual’s“ability to convey, transfer or disseminate knowledge across
workers and organizations”(p. 5). The organization learning theory postulates that
knowledge sharing not only leads to creative thinking (Mowrer, 1960) but also enhances
employees’innovation (Na-Nan and Arunyaphum, 2021). Therefore, knowledge sharing has
strategic importance in creative work-related activities (Akram et al.,2020;Abdel Fattah
et al.,2022), specifically in the field of information technology (IT).
Advancement in IT around the globe has led to the foundation of intense competition in
the service and product business (Usmanova et al., 2020). During COVID-19, there is a boast
in the IT sector which still has no limits, as all businesses have turned their business model
to combat the unexpected COVID-19 situation (Reslan et al.,2021). In 2019, a global
pandemic arises due to a virus known as coronavirus (COVID-19) because of which people
were obliged to follow physical distancing as a standard operating procedure which limited
human activity and physical interactions (Singh et al., 2020;Islam et al.,2020). Due to the
closure of banks, offices, shopping malls, educational and all other institutes, activities were
shifted to online mode that not only boosts apps development (Singh et al.,2020) but also
opened new avenues for the IT sector. According to the Pakistan Ministry of Information
Technology (2020), a 47% increase in exports of the IT sector is observed in a calendar year.
However, the boost in the IT sector came out with the challenge of innovative input to
provide improved solutions and high-quality services (Hassan et al.,2018) which can be
possible through knowledge sharing. Therefore, the first objective of this study is to
examine how knowledge sharing influences employees’innovative work behavior (IWB).
According to Vandavasi et al. (2020) and Rahman et al. (2021), there is a need to identify
mechanisms and conditions between knowledge sharing and IWB. With this backdrop, this
study argues the mediating role of occupational self-efficacy. Occupational self-efficacy is an
individual’s perception regarding his/her capabilities and skills to successfully deal with
occupational challenges in various situations (Klaeijsen et al., 2018). Occupational self-
efficacy helps individuals for their career advancement, as it is a source of motivation (Teng
et al.,2020). When individuals believe in producing desired results (occupational self-
efficacy) they get motivated. This ability to produce desired results even in difficult times
not only allow individuals to think differently to be creative (Bandura, 2009) but also enables
them to view themselves as competent (Lent and Brown, 2013). According to Mielniczuk and
Laguna (2020), positive belief leads to a positive effect on a person, which in turn shapes
behavior. Furthermore, when individuals are intrinsically motivated and willing, they are
likely to seek out creative ways (i.e. IWB) to enhance the working process or activities
(Mielniczuk and Laguna, 2020). This means that, occupational self-efficacy intervein IWB.
Therefore, the second objective of this study is to examine the mediating role of occupational
self-efficacy between knowledge sharing and IWB.
The recent literature on knowledge sharing has emphasized identifying factors that
inspire and influence employees to engage in IWB (Vandavasi et al.,2020). Anser et al.’s
(2020) thought strikes that leadership may provoke innovative behavior. Leadership is a
process through which leaders inspire and motivate followers to achieve organizational
goals (Elbaz and Haddoud, 2017). Indeed, leaders through their leadership style not only
motivate their employees (Akbari et al.,2020;Alfaiza et al.,2021) but also serve as
conditional variable to enhance their innovative behavior (Wang et al., 2021) because of their
GKMC
ability to shape better work environment (Lee et al., 2020). Accordingly, studies have
identified servant leadership (Khan et al.,2021), ethical leadership (Ullah et al., 2021a,2021b),
authentic leadership, transformational leadership (Grošelj et al.,2021) and paternalistic
leadership (Nazir et al.,2021) as the catalyst for employees’innovative behavior.
Nonetheless, these leadership styles limit our understanding in dynamic work environment
(Lee et al.,2020)as“leaders need to assist their followers to recognize and exploit
entrepreneurial opportunities”(Iqbal et al.,2020, p. 2). Therefore, extending the literature,
this study argues about the conditional effect of entrepreneurial leadership. Entrepreneurial
leadership facilities and motivates followers to accomplish corporate goals, improve
performance and value creation by exploiting entrepreneurial opportunities via followers’
innovative contribution (Islam and Asad, 2021). In a recent meta-analysis, Lee et al. (2020)
identified entrepreneurial leadership as the most influencing leadership style towards
employees’innovative behavior. Nevertheless, “the evidence on the effectiveness of
entrepreneurial leadership approach in fostering employee innovative behavior is scant in
high-tech service context such as IT services”(Iqbal et al., 2020, p. 3). Therefore, the third
objective of this study is to examine the conditional effect of entrepreneurial leadership on
the association between knowledge sharing and IWB (Figure 1).
This study contributes to the existing literature in many folds. First, this study explores
the impact of knowledge sharing on IWB in the IT sector of Pakistan during the COVID-19.
Second, this study explores the intervening role of occupational self-efficacy between
knowledge sharing and IWB. Third, this study explores the moderating role of
entrepreneurial leadership between knowledge sharing and IWB. This study would help
management to understand how the role of leadership and perception of occupational self-
efficacy shapes the innovative behavior of employees.
Hypotheses development
Knowledge sharing and innovative behavior
Knowledge sharing is a well-discussed topic in the field of organizational behavior, as it
benefits employees as well as employers. Knowledge sharing is a behavior of mutual
exchange of expertise, skills and information among employees (Chaudhary et al.,2021).
Knowledge sharing involves explicit or implicit knowledge that develops organizational
knowledge through creating new knowledge and contributing toward organizational
progress (Kmieciak, 2021;Abdel Fattah et al.,2021). Literature has suggested knowledge
collection and donation as two aspects of knowledge sharing (Rahman et al.,2016).
Knowledge collection includes consulting others about learning what they know, whereas,
knowledge donation means transferring ones’knowledge among others through
communication (de Vries et al.,2006). However, knowledge sharing occurs when “people
who possess knowledge are willing to transfer their work experience, techniques, and
opinions to others in a concrete manner and expect that others will practically apply such
knowledge at work”(Yu et al.,2013, p. 148), and this creates organizational-level and
individual-level innovation (Pittino et al.,2018).
Figure 1.
Conceptual model
Entrepreneurial
Leadership
Knowledge
Sharing
Innovative
Work Behavior
Occupational
Self-efficacy
Innovative
work behavior
According to Hughes et al. (2018), individual-level innovativeness results in organizational-
level innovativeness. Therefore, IWB is an essential source of organizational success. IWB
involves individuals’intentional actions toward the generation, realization, implementation,
and promotion of novel information, ideas, methods or a process to improve performance
and efficiency (Javed et al., 2019). As IWB contributes to organizational overall success,
therefore there is a need to identify factors that provoke employees’IWB (Islam and Asad,
2021;Kmieciak, 2021). Given that, this study argues knowledge sharing as an essential
antecedent of IWB.
Knowledge is “afluid mix of framed experiences, values, contextual information, and
expert insight that provides a framework for evaluating and incorporating new experiences
and information”(Davenport and Prusak, 1998, p.5), and play an important role in creating
innovation (Kmieciak, 2021). Therefore, up-to-date knowledge may help individuals to
participate in creative activities that shape employees’innovative behavior (Battistelli et al.,
2019). Specifically, individuals through knowledge-sharing process enhance their
colleagues’skills, expertise and abilities that are essential for innovative behavior (Anser
et al.,2020). Cognitive psychology suggests that individuals need cognitive restructuring or
elaboration to absorb new knowledge (Slavin, 1996). Knowledge sharing facilitates
individuals in cognitive restructuring because the recipient has to connect and integrate new
knowledge with his/her existing knowledge. Indeed, knowledge sharing process triggers
reflecting, verifying and reinterpreting individuals’knowledge. This knowledge re-
elaboration and recombination facilitate individuals to generation and implementation of
creative ideas (Radaelli et al.,2014). Therefore, this study hypothesized:
H1. Knowledge sharing positively influences IWB.
Mediating role of occupational self-efficacy
Numerous studies have emphasized the significance of self-efficacy in diverse settings,
including commerce, academia and health care (Bandura, 2010;Alshahrani and Pennington,
2020). In recent literature, researchers have shown interest in exploring and investigating
the role of personal variables that provokes motivation among individuals (Jønsson et al.,
2021;Alshahrani and Pennington, 2018). Motivation and individual actions are better
predicted by the perception about their capabilities and skills, a necessary condition to
complete tasks successfully (Bandura, 1997). In this aspect, self-efficacy is an individual’s
perception about his/her capabilities to successfully complete a required task (Bandura,
2010). Lent and Brown (2006) categorized self-efficacy in occupational context (e.g. process,
coping, task-specific and content-specific self-efficacy). Occupational self-efficacy is an
individual’s belief in his/her abilities to successfully perform occupational-related tasks
(Çetin and Askun, 2018). Occupational self-efficacy is different from the concept of self-
efficacy because it particularly focuses on adjustment and obstacles related to the
occupation (Liu, 2019).
Literature has identified occupational self-efficacy as a mediator between attitudes and
behaviors. For example, Guarnaccia et al. (2018) identified occupational self-efficacy
mediating the association between job insecurity and work engagement. Similarly, Klaeijsen
et al. (2018) noted occupational self-efficacy explaining the association between basic
psychological need motivation and IWB. However, none of the studies have identified how
occupational self-efficacy mediates the association between knowledge sharing and IWB.
Knowledge sharing is valuable for individuals and organizations; however, it is associated
with certain risks. First, outcome expectations (innovativeness) and self-perception can be a
possible risk associated with knowledge sharing (Hsu et al.,2007). As knowledge sharing
GKMC
needs elaboration and interpretation of communicated knowledge, therefore, may lead to
negative feedback and criticism (Ashford et al.,2003). Such criticisms not only affect
individuals’self-image but also discourage them from further sharing (Argyris, 1999). The
IT professionals need to interact with each other (knowledge sharing) to tackle their task-
related issues; therefore, the prevalence of such issues may restrict them to learn from each
other. The second “risk”is associated with the political environment. Organizations are
known as political arenas where new employees have to learn how to behave (Kelchtermans
and Ballet, 2002). Specifically, employees are known as political actors who use politics to
get their tasks performed and sharing in such situations may be risky (Runhaar and
Sanders, 2016).
Despite risks, this study still believes that sharing knowledge is essential as it enhances
individuals’occupational self-efficacy for several reasons. First, when an individual receives
knowledge from others, the recipient connects it with his/her own knowledge. If they found
the new knowledge similar to their own knowledge, they more likely to believe in their
abilities and less likely to give negative feedback. Second, if individuals lost their position
and receive criticism because of shared knowledge, their belief in their abilities to perform
tasks in a better way may help them to overcome. On the other side, occupational self-
efficacy positively enhances employees’performance. According to Geijsel et al. (2009),
occupational self-efficacy is an important predictor of individuals’learning and development
activities. This is because, individual belief in his/her abilities to successfully perform
organizational tasksmotivates him/her to try new ways to perform a task (Çetin and Askun,
2018). Therefore, this study assumes that occupational self-efficacy may trigger the effect of
knowledge sharing on IWB. Hence, it is hypothesized:
H2. Occupational self-efficacy mediates the relationship between knowledge sharing
and IWB.
Moderating role of entrepreneurial leadership
The term “entrepreneurial leadership”stems from entrepreneurship and organizational
behavior literature and is considered as a source to enhance employees’IWB (Islam and
Asad, 2021). Mehmood et al. (2021) suggested that entrepreneurial leaders are known for
their creative and innovative abilities, therefore, such leaders drive the process of innovation
(Islam and Asad, 2021). Renko et al. (2015) define entrepreneurial leadership as the unique
style of leadership that motivates and inspires followers by giving them directions towards
attaining organizational goals exploiting entrepreneurial opportunities. Entrepreneurial
leaders are visionary, innovative and risk-takers (Iqbal et al., 2020), thereby motivating
employees to indulge in creative tasks rather than routine activities (Sarabi et al.,2020).
Bagheri and Harrison (2020) noted that entrepreneurial leaders effectively share vision with
their followers to direct them toward complex tasks because of strong communication
abilities. Such characteristics of entrepreneurial leaders not only create a psychologically
safe work environment where employees feel relaxed but also share their creative ideas with
each other (Bagheri et al.,2020). Based on these facts, this is the first study that argues about
the catalytic role of entrepreneurial leadership between knowledge sharing and IWB.
According to Anser et al. (2020), sharing knowledge enhances individuals’skills,
expertise and abilities which they use to behave innovatively. From cognitive psychology
perspective, individuals need cognitive restructuring or elaboration to absorb new
knowledge (Slavin, 1996). Therefore, leaders through their unique characteristics may help
individuals for cognitive restructuring. This knowledge re-elaboration and recombination
facilitates individuals to generate and implement creative ideas (Radaelli et al.,2014).
Innovative
work behavior
As entrepreneurial leaders are opportunity seekers, therefore, they create such an
environment where individuals collect knowledge (through knowledge sharing) that may
help them be creative. The literature on the moderating role of entrepreneurial leadership is
scant. For example, Ximenes et al. (2019) noted entrepreneurial leadership strengthening the
association between high-performance work system and employee creativity. Individuals
consider their leaders/supervisors as role models and try to behave accordingly (Islam et al.,
2021a). According to social learning theory, when employees observe open communication
and knowledge sharing of their leader, they are likely to share their expertise and valuable
information with other organization members which may promote their creativity (Bandura,
2009). Thus, the study hypothesized:
H3. Entrepreneurial leadership moderates the association between knowledge sharing
and IWB such that individuals with high perceptions of entrepreneurial leadership
are more likely to involve in IWB through knowledge sharing.
Methods
Participants and procedure
IT sector of Pakistan is comprised 300,000 professionals to serve more than 2,000
companies. These companies are also producing 2,000 IT graduates annually to accomplish
Pakistan’s Vision 2025 to be a $20bn industry (Information Technology, 2022).
These statistics show that IT is the fastest-growing sector of Pakistan, especially during
COVID-19, which demands IWB from its employees (Akram et al.,2020). Therefore, the
study selected employees of IT sector as the population of this study. As the exact list of IT
professionals was not available, therefore, the study used item-to-response theory to select a
sample of 500 (i.e. 25 20 = 500), and the respondents were approached on a
convenience basis (Islam and Hussain, 2022). Further, the study collected data through
online surveys (i.e. Google Forms) because the data were collected during COVID-19
(between March and August, 2021) when employees were allowed to work from home.
The online platform provides a wider net of respondents to assess a more diverse group
of the target population and these platforms are appropriate for cross-sectional studies
(Newman et al., 2021). The study used social media platforms (such as WhatsApp,
Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn) to approach the participants. First, they were informed
about the purpose of this study and their consent was obtained. Second, they were requested
to fill the questionnaire (through Google Form link).
The questionnaire was divided into two sections. In the first section, participants were
asked about their demographical characteristics (i.e. gender, qualification, age and work
experience, etc.), and in the second section, they were requested to record their responses on
afive-point Likert scale. From 500 questionnaires, a total of 279 responded back (response
rate is 55.8%). Most from the respondents were male (N = 198, 70%), aged between 20 and
25 years (N = 129, 46.23%), holding a bachelor’s degree (N = 133, 35.2%), with the 1–2 years
of work experience (N = 97, 34.8%) (see Table 1).
Measures
The study adapted scales from past studies and respondents were asked on a five-point
Likert scale ranging between (1) strongly disagree to (5) strongly agree.
Knowledge sharing was measured through Bock et al.’s (2005) five items scale with
thesampleitemas,“My knowledge sharing with other organizational members is an
enjoyable experience.”Cronbach’s alpha for this scale was noted as 0.86. The study used
GKMC
Renko et al.’s (2015) five items scale to measure entrepreneurial leadership with the
sample item as, “My leader has creative solutions to problems.”Cronbach’s alpha for this
scale was noted as 0.88. Occupational self-efficacy was measured through Rigotti et al.’s
(2008) six items scale with a sample item as, “When I am confronted with a problem in my
job, I can usually find several solutions.”Cronbach’salphaforthisscalewasnotedas
0.91. The study used Kang and Lee’s (2017) four items to measure IWB with the sample
item, “Igeneratecreativeideas.”Cronbach’s alpha for this scale was noted as 0.90. This
study used age, gender, qualification and experience as control variables. Literature has
shown that these variables may have an impact on employee IWB (Jada et al., 2019)and
knowledge sharing (Pian et al., 2019).
Results
This study is an attempt to examine the mediating role of occupational self-efficacy and
moderating role of entrepreneurial leadership between knowledge sharing and employees’
IWB. The study collected data from the employees working in the IT sector of Pakistan. The
study applied structural equation modeling (SEM) in two stages with maximum likelihood
(Islam et al.,2022). The study examined data for the basic assumptions for SEM (see
preliminary analysis) to examine confirmatory factor analysis, and hypotheses testing
(Ahmad et al., 2021b;Malik et al.,2022;Islam et al., 2021b). The following section discusses
the detail of these techniques.
Preliminary analysis
This study first performed preliminary analysis to ensure that the data of the study fulfills
the basic criteria for SEM. In line with Byrne (2010) and Kline (2005), data were examined for
outliers, missing values, normality and multicollinearity. Google Forms provided the facility
to mark questions as required to fill (Malik et al., 2021), therefore, there were no missing
values. Outliers in data were assessed through stem-and-leaf method; where nine outliers
were identified and removed as it was necessary to remove them otherwise results could be
Table 1.
Demographical
characteristics of
respondents
Demographical aspects N(Respondents) (%)
Gender
Male 198 70
Female 81 30
Age
20-25 years 129 46.23
26-30 years 107 38.35
31–35 years 22 7.8
More than 35 years 21 7.5
Qualification
Bachelors (16 years) 133 35.2
Masters (18 years) 119 31.4
Other 118 31.1
Tenure
Less than a year 19 6.8
1–2 years 97 34.8
2–3 years 80 28.7
More than 3 years 75 26.9
Innovative
work behavior
altered (Kline, 2005;Islam et al., 2021c). Further results were conducted on 270 responses.
Data normality has been examined through Skewness (#61) and Kurtosis (#63), the
result of which shows that the data were normally distributed (Byrne, 2010;Ahmad et al.,
2021a). Multicollinearity was examined through the values of correlation and all the values
were less than 0.85 (Table 2). This shows that data was ready for further analysis
(Tabachnick et al.,2007;Ahmed et al.,2020).
Confirmatory factor analysis. This study follows Kline’s (2011) criteria for model fitness
[i.e. goodness of fit(GFI0.90)], CMIN/df <3.0, root mean square error of approximation
(RMSEA #0.08) and comparative fit index (CFI 0.90) with the factor loading of more than
0.50 (Byrne, 2010). The values of measurement model show a better fit i.e. CMIN/df = 1.134,
GFI = 0.927, CFI = 0.992 and RMSEA = 0.022, and the values of loading were also well
above the followed criteria (see Appendix). For convergent validity, average variance
extracted (AVE 0.50) and composite reliability (CR 0.60) were examined (Islam and
Asad, 2021). Finally, discriminant validity was analyzed by AVE and maximum shared
variance (MSV), where thevalues of AVE were greater than MSV (Appendix).
Descriptive statistic and correlation. The mean values of the variables show that
(Table 2) respondents were agree about their knowledge sharing behavior (M = 3.56),
occupational self-efficacy (M = 3.93) and IWB (M = 4.26); however, they were neutral
regarding entrepreneurial leadership (M = 3.45). In addition, knowledge sharing was found
to positively correlate with occupational self-efficacy (r=0.43, p<0.01) and IWB (r=0.43,
p<0.01). Further, occupational self-efficacy was found to positively correlate with IWB (r=
0.71, p<0.01).
Hypotheses testing. The study followed Byrne (2016) and applied bootstraps at 95%
confidence with 5,000 rotations to test the hypotheses (Table 3). First, knowledge sharing
Table 3.
Results of
hypotheses testing
Relationships
b
SE CR
Bootstraps
LLCI ULCI
Knowledge sharing !IWB 0.51 0.039 9.63 0.978 1.583
Knowledge sharing !Occupational self-efficacy 0.48 0.056 6.05 0.350 0.593
Occupational self-efficacy !IWB 0.43 0.046 4.97 0.337 0.634
Mediation of occupational self-efficacy
Direct effect 0.51 0.039 9.63 0.978 1.583
Indirect effect 0.21 0.079 4.39 0.153 0.314
Moderation of entrepreneurial leadership
Entrepreneurial leadership !IWB 0.19 0.068 3.98 0.098 0.137
Knowledge sharing entrepreneurial leadership 0.55 0.042 5.49 0.457 0.658
Table 2.
Descriptive and
correlation analysis
Variables 1 2 3 4 Mean SD
1- Knowledge sharing 1 3.56 0.74
2- Entrepreneurial leadership 0.62
**
1 3.45 0.77
3- Occupational self-efficacy 0.43
**
0.53
**
1 3.93 0.78
4- IWB 0.48
**
0.44
**
0.71
**
1 4.26 0.84
Note:
**
p<0.01
GKMC
was found to positively influence employees’IWB (
b
= 0.51, CR = 9.63, p= 0.000) which is
in line with H1. Second, to test the mediating role of occupational self-efficacy the study
conducted indirect paths. The direct paths between knowledge sharing and occupational
self-efficacy (
b
= 0.48, CR = 6.05, p= 0.000), and occupational self-efficacy and IWB (
b
=
0.43, CR = 4.97, p= 0.000) were noted significant. These beta coefficients were multiplied to
identify indirect effect (i.e. 0.48 0.43,
b
= 0.21) and its upper and lower boundaries were
without a zero value (LL = 0.153, LL = 0.314) which confirms the mediating role of
occupational self-efficacy. Hence, H2 of the study was supported.
Finally, to test the moderating role of entrepreneurial leadership on the association
between knowledge sharing and employees’IWB, the study computed an interactional term
(i.e. knowledge sharing entrepreneurial leadership). The study noted a direct influence of
entrepreneurial leadership on IWB (
b
= 0.19, p= 0.000); however, the interactional term
(knowledge sharing entrepreneurial leadership) was also noted to positively strengthen
the association between knowledge sharing and employees’IWB (
b
= 0.55, CR = 5.49, p=
0.000) without any zero value between lower (LL = 0.457) and upper (UL = 0.658) boundaries
and supports H3 of the study.
Discussion and implications
This study intended to examine the impact of knowledge sharing on IWB of employees working
in the IT sector of Pakistan during COVID-19. This study explores the mediating role of
occupational self-efficacy and moderating role of entrepreneurial leadership on the relationship
between knowledge sharing and IWB. First, the study noted that knowledge sharing positively
influences employees’IWB (H1). This finding is in line with the findings of Akram et al. (2018)
and Aldabbas et al. (2021) that an organizational culture that encourages knowledge sharing is
more innovative, whereas employees involved in knowledge hiding behaviors are less likely to
be innovative (
Cerne et al.,2017). Kmieciak (2021) suggested that knowledge donation helps
more in generating ideas (because it demands innovation) than in knowledge collection.
Knowledge sharing offers opportunities for employees to receive information, ideas, opinion and
solutionsfromtheircolleaguestobeinnovative(Xie et al.,2016). Similarly, Du Plessis (2007) also
identified knowledge sharing as the major contributor towards employees’IWB.
According to Liu (2019), occupational self-efficacy is an individual’s ability to handle
occupation-related obstacles, hence, can be a mediator between employees’attitudes and
behaviors (Guarnaccia, et al.,2018;Klaeijsen et al.,2018). Therefore, this study extends existing
literature and identified occupational self-efficacy as mediator between knowledge sharing and
IWB (H2). Although, knowledge sharing is associated with risks such as innovativeness,
expectations, self-perception (Hsu et al., 2007); when employees receive negative feedback, they
are less likely to involve in further knowledge sharing (Argyris, 1999) to be innovative.
However, when the receiver perceives knowledge as similar to his/her existing knowledge, he/
she is likely to believe in his abilities which increases occupational self-efficacy (Geijsel et al.,
2009). Indeed, occupational self-efficacy helps individuals to involve in IWB (Klaeijsen et al.,
2018). Further, we explored the conditional effect of entrepreneurial leadership on the
association between knowledge sharing and IWB (H3). Literature is well documented about the
positive association between entrepreneurial leadership and IWB (Islam and Asad, 2021;
Musara and Nieuwenhuizen, 2020;Akbari et al., 2020); nonetheless, its moderating effect on
knowledge sharing and IWB remained a neglecting area. This study noted that entrepreneurial
leaders motivate employees through their risk-taking, innovative and visionary characteristics,
therefore, perform the role of catalyst between knowledge sharing and IWB. Ximenes et al.
(2019) also argued about the moderating role of entrepreneurial leadership between high-
performance work system and employee creativity. Using strong communication abilities,
Innovative
work behavior
entrepreneurial leaders share their vision and risk-taking stories with the employees and direct
them towards complex tasks (Bagheri and Harrison, 2020), which encourages employees to
create a knowledge-sharing culture to be innovative. Indeed, entrepreneurial leadership
provides greater opportunities for employees to develop their creativity and encourages them
to come up with new ideas (a crucial determinant for employees’IWB).
This study offers several theoretical implications. First, this study offers unique insight
by viewing organizational innovation through the lens of knowledge sharing in the IT sector
of Pakistan. Innovative behavior at individual level helps to understand organizational
innovation to combat intense competition prevailing in the IT sector. Second, this study
explores occupational self-efficacy as an underlying mechanism to encourage employees’
IWB. Specifically, this study shed light on the importance of knowledge sharing to enhance
occupational self-efficacy, which in turn, encourages IWB. According to Klaeijsen et al.
(2018) when employees perceive themselves as capable to perform a job (occupational self-
efficacy), they are more likely to be creative. Third, drawing upon social learning theory, the
study extends literature and identified the catalytic role of entrepreneurial leadership
between knowledge sharing and IWB. Indeed, employees learn through the actions of their
leaders (Bandura, 2010). When employees perceive their leaders as opportunity seekers and
risk-taker, they try to take risks which encourages them to be innovative.
This study also offers practical implications to management and employees working in the
IT sector. IT employees are enthusiastic about learning and sharing new ideas as they usually
work in teams and their tasks are interrelated. Knowledge sharing enables individuals to learn
more and think differently which leads to innovation. Therefore, management is suggested to
motivate employees to share their knowledge and learn through others’shared knowledge.
This can be achieved by creating a favorable work environment and giving weightage to
employees’ideas. This study also suggests that employees believe in their abilities to perform
job-related tasks (occupational self-efficacy) is equally important to involve in IWB. A
knowledge-sharing culture helps employees to compare their existing knowledge with new
knowledge (which they receive from others), if found similarities, they start believing in their
abilities to perform their tasks (occupational self-efficacy) and show more innovativeness in
accomplishing given tasks. Management is also suggested to conduct various on-the-job
training (which are 80% successful as compared to off-the-job training) that not only enhances
but also enables employees to believe in their existing skills (Chen et al., 2016). Hiring
professionals from other firms (for training) have more possibilities to share information
through offline and online modalities at both individual and group levels. Such activities
provide open spaces where employees can exchange their ideas and can discuss the pros and
cons together. This will not only encourage a healthy discussion but will also help them to
improve their ideas and come up with a more refined idea.
The findings of this study also highlight the importance of leadership to encourage
knowledge sharing and IWB. Management is suggested to promote entrepreneurial
leadership style as such leaders are opportunity seeker, visionary and risk-taker. Such
leaders promote knowledge-sharing environment that encourages employees to seek and
grab opportunities to exploit novel ideas; thereby meeting the challenges of creativity and
innovation in the IT sector. As leadership can be learned behaviors, therefore, management is
suggested to train their leaders to take risks in developing smart and innovative products.
Limitation and future direction
This study is not free from limitations. First, this study collected data from a single source
using a cross-sectional design that restricts causality and is associated with the issue of
common method variance. Although, the study examined Harman’s single factor test and
GKMC
there was no issue of common method variance, still future researchers are suggested to
collect data from employees and their supervisors using a longitudinal design. Second,
employees’IWBs are essential for all organizations; therefore, future studies are suggested
to collect data from various organizations working in developing and developed countries to
enhance generalizability. According to Chaudhary et al. (2021), industry type and nature of
business operation may impact knowledge sharing practices. Third, this study focused on
the moderating role of entrepreneurial leadership between knowledge sharing and IWB.
Further studies can examine how positive (shared, distributed, participative) and negative
(despotic, toxic, abusive) leadership affects employees’knowledge sharing and IWB. Finally,
this study examined occupational self-efficacy as a mediator between knowledge sharing
and IWB, further studies are suggested to explore the mediating role of self-efficacy,
perceived organizational support or learning culture.
Conclusion
This study investigated the role of knowledge sharing toward IT professionals’IWB
through occupational self-efficacy in the presence of entrepreneurial leadership. The study
noted that knowledge sharing is not sufficient for the employees’to be innovative, the role of
occupational self-efficacy and leadership is equally important. Therefore, management
needs to engage employees in various training programs to enhance their ability to perform
job-related tasks. The study also noted that employees learn through their leaders’style,
therefore, leaders’risk-taking and opportunity-seeking style (entrepreneurial leadership)
encourage employees to be innovative.
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from high power distance culture”,European Journal of Management and Business Economics,
(In press), doi: 10.1108/EJMBE-05-2021-0149.
GKMC
Appendix
Corresponding author
Talat Islam can be contacted at: talatislam@yahoo.com
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Table A1.
Factor loading,
reliability and
validity
Questions Loading CR AVE MSV
Knowledge Sharing
My knowledge sharing with other organizational members is
good 0.724
0.856 0.543 0.279
My knowledge sharing with other organizational members is
harmful. (R) 0.725
My knowledge sharing with other organizational members is
an enjoyable experience 0.758
My knowledge sharing with other organizational members is
valuable for me 0.751
My knowledge sharing with other organizational members is
a wise move 0.724
Entrepreneurial Leadership
My leader often comes up with radical improvement ideas for
the products/services we are selling 0.721
0.878 0.507 0.349
My leader often comes up with ideas of completely new
products/services that we could sell 0.678
My leader takes risks 0.705
My leader has creative solutions to problems 0.721
My leader demonstrates a passion for his/her work 0.746
Occupational Self-efficacy
I can remain calm when facing difficulties in my job because I
can rely on my abilities 0.803
0.915 0.642 0.471
When I am confronted with a problem in my job, I can usually
find several solutions 0.778
Whatever comes my way in my job, I can usually handle it 0.813
My past experiences in my job have prepared me well for my
occupational future 0.806
I meet the goals that I set for myself in my job 0.804
I feel prepared for most of the demands in my job 0.802
Innovative work behavior
I generate creative ideas 0.818
0.902 0.698 0.461
I promote and champion ideas to others 0.851
I investigate and secure funds needed to implement new ideas 0.825
I develop adequate plans and schedules for the
implementation of new ideas 0.848
Innovative
work behavior
