The nexus between emotional intelligence and types of knowledge sharing: does work experience matter?

Abstract

Purpose

Owing to limited research exploring the role of emotional constructs on different types of knowledge sharing, this paper aims to examine the impact of emotional intelligence on two different types of knowledge sharing, namely, tacit knowledge sharing and explicit knowledge sharing. Further, this study also attempts to explore the moderating role of work experience between emotional intelligence-knowledge sharing relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey design methodology is used to collect data from 245 employees of global information technology (IT) companies located in India. Structural equation modelling technique was applied to test the hypothesised relationships among the constructs.

Findings

The results indicate that emotional intelligence has a stronger positive effect on tacit knowledge sharing (ß = 0.78, p < 0.001) compared to explicit knowledge sharing (ß = 0.59, p < 0.001). Multigroup analysis results reveal that influence of emotional intelligence on tacit knowledge sharing was stronger for high experience group compared to low experience group. However, no significant differences were found based on work experience for the emotional intelligence-explicit knowledge sharing relationship.

Practical implications

This study suggests suitable interventions that management can adopt to enhance tacit as well as explicit knowledge sharing in global IT organisations.

Originality/value

This study provides a comprehensive understanding of the differences that exists between tacit and explicit knowledge sharing and highlights the impact of emotional intelligence on these distinctively. It advances knowledge sharing literature and brings uniqueness by exploring the moderating role of work experience on emotional intelligence-knowledge sharing relationship in a non-western setting.

Citation

Malik, S. (2021), "The nexus between emotional intelligence and types of knowledge sharing: does work experience matter?", Journal of Workplace Learning, Vol. 33 No. 8, pp. 619-634. https://doi.org/10.1108/JWL-10-2020-0170