Which Leadership Styles Matter to Subordinates' Knowledge Behavior? Focusing on the Occupational Self-Efficacy and Self-Regulatory Focus

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to examine the importance of understanding employees' self -regulatory capacities and supervisors' leadership styles in enhancing employee knowledge -sharing and mitigating knowledge concealment through improvements in occupational self -efficacy. This research conducted quantitative methodology to investigate the relationships among leadership style, occupational self -efficacy, knowledge -related behavior, and self -regulatory focus. The authors conducted an online survey to investigate factors influencing the knowledge behavior of employees, with a sample of 299 employees in South Korea. This research revealed that both transformational and transactional leadership indirectly influence subordinates' knowledge -sharing and -hiding by enhancing occupational self -efficacy. Also, this research found that moderated mediation of subordinates' self -regulatory focus has significant effects on the relationships. This research emphasizes the importance of applying an employee's psychological state, including occupational self -efficacy, personal traits, and regulatory behavior, when assessing the effectiveness of leadership on employees' knowledge -related behavior. The research has practical implications for human resource development. It emphasizes the importance of monitoring employees' sense of professional self -efficacy. It also deals with the need for transparent rewards and performance evaluations to effectively manage the double-edged sword of transactional leadership. Finally, it discusses how to design customized leadership programs based on the personality traits of team members.