Influence mechanism of job satisfaction and positive affect on knowledge sharing among project members

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence mechanism of job satisfaction and positive affect on knowledge sharing among project members in Chinese construction industry, and test the moderating role of organizational commitment between them in order to find a new approach from the perspective of psychology to improve the knowledge sharing performance within project management organizations in China constantly.

Design/methodology/approach

An empirical study was used based on confirmatory factor analysis and hierarchical regression analysis with a sample of 540 project members from 80 project management organizations in China.

Findings

Research results showed that job satisfaction and positive affect of project members both have a significant positive impact on knowledge sharing; organizational commitment could moderate the influence of job satisfaction and positive affect on knowledge sharing among project members partially within the Chinese context.

Research limitations/implications

A questionnaire study from China only represents the relationship and regular pattern within a shorter time interval in the Chinese context. It is necessary to continue to implement a longitudinal study in a relatively long period in future research.

Practical implications

Knowledge sharing among project members can be enhanced through improving job satisfaction and positive affect, and strengthening project members’ organizational commitment can amplify the influence effect of job satisfaction and positive affect on knowledge sharing.

Originality/value

This paper clarifies the direct influence mechanism of project members’ job satisfaction and positive affect on explicit knowledge sharing (EKS) and tacit knowledge sharing (TKS), and further tests the partial moderating effect of organizational commitment on the influence relationship of job satisfaction and positive affect on EKS and TKS.