Dynamic linkages of empowering and transformational leadership with knowledge sharing in project teams

ABSTRACT Previous research has studied the effect of leadership on knowledge sharing and has consistently found empowering and transformational leader behaviours to be important. However, there is lack of theoretical guidance on how the influence of leadership on knowledge sharing unfolds over time. This paper proposes a conceptual model that identifies key antecedents of knowledge sharing across different stages of life span of a project team. The conceptual model focuses on the influence of empowering and transformational leaders in each stage of team development. This paper argues that the influence of empowering and transformational leadership on knowledge sharing varies over time in a curvilinear manner such that the influence is limited during the initial and final stages but is relatively high in the intermediate stages of team development. This paper identifies the key mediators of the relationship between empowering/transformational leadership and knowledge sharing in project teams at different stages.