The influence of social capital on knowledge sharing: the moderated mediator of perceived supervisor support and psychological ownership

Abstract

PurposeDrawing on the theories of social capital and leader–member exchange (LMX), the authors examined the moderated mediation relationships of psychological ownership and perceived supervisory support on social capital and organizational knowledge.Design/methodology/approachTo test the proposed model, the authors collected data from 522 employees working in large corporations in South Korea.FindingsThe authors found that (a) social capital was positively related to organizational knowledge sharing, (b) perceived supervisor support mediated the linkage between social capital and knowledge sharing and (c) psychological ownership moderated the indirect effect of social capital on knowledge sharing through perceived supervisor support, such that the indirect effect was stronger for employees with low rather than high psychological ownership.Originality/valueThis study sheds new light on how the nature of relationship between the leader and followers as well as individual's psychological ownership play a crucial role in knowledge sharing.