Effects of Employee Well-Being and Self-Efficacy on the Relationship between Coaching Leadership and Knowledge Sharing Intention: A Study of UK and US Employees

Abstract

Knowledge acquisition practices are important to enterprises, particularly since market competition is intensifying. In recent years, organizations have begun to pay more attention to knowledge sharing practices. Many organizations are looking for methods to motivate their employees to actively share knowledge with other employees. This study uses the conservation of resources theory to examine coaching leadership as an antecedent-and employee well-being as a mediator-in facilitating knowledge sharing intention; it finds that self-efficacy is the boundary condition in these relations. We collected data in two waves and recruited participants online-full-time employees in the UK and US. Using a sample of 322 employees, we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis to test the validity of the results and used hierarchical multiple regression to examine the direct and interaction effects. Then, we used the bootstrapping method to test the indirect and moderated mediation effects. Our results show that coaching leadership is positively related to knowledge sharing intention, and employee well-being mediates the relationship. Moreover, self-efficacy positively moderates the direct and indirect effects. Our findings demonstrate that employee well-being is a mediating mechanism in the relationship between coaching leadership and knowledge sharing intention, with self-efficacy acting as a boundary condition.

Keywords: coaching leadership; conservation of resources theory; employee well-being; knowledge sharing intention; self-efficacy.

Figure 1

Hypothesized research model.

Figure 2

The moderating effect of self-efficacy on the relationship between employee well-being and knowledge sharing intention. EWB = employee well-being SE = self-efficacy KSI = knowledge sharing intention.