How servant leadership nurtures knowledge sharing: the mediating role of public service motivation

Abstract

Purpose – When knowledge is shared, it flows beyond individual level to add to organizational knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to seek an insight into the role of servant leadership in leveraging knowledge sharing among public employees, thereby enriching organizational knowledge in public organizations. The study also investigates the individual-level mediation effect of public service motivation (PSM), as well as organization-level moderating effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) for the relationship between servant leadership and knowledge sharing.Design/methodology/approach – The data on the research variables were collected from 562 employees and 197 department managers in public organizations of electricity, telephone, and water industries in Vietnam context. Findings – Research results provided evidence for the mediating effect of PSM for the servant leadership-knowledge sharing linkage. This linkage was also found to be positively moderated by CSR. Originality/value – This research extends PSM literature by shedding light on the mediating role of PSM for the effect of servant leadership on knowledge sharing, thereby demonstrating the convergence of servant leadership, knowledge sharing, and PSM research streams.