The Effect of Entrepreneurial Leadership on Employees’ Tacit Knowledge Sharing in Start-Ups: A Moderated Mediation Model

Bo Pu,1,2,* Wenyuan Sang,2 Juan Yang,3,* Siyu Ji,2 Zhiwei Tang1 1School of Public Affairs and Administration, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Business and Tourism, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611830, People’s Republic of China; 3School of Economics and Management, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, 610031, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Bo Pu; Wenyuan Sang Email ppuubo@hotmail.com; lynnnnyy@163.comBackground: This study explores the causal relationship between entrepreneurial leadership and employees’ tacit knowledge sharing in start-ups. Construct a moderated mediation model to test the mediating role of affective commitment and the moderating role of career growth opportunities.Methods: A questionnaire was used to collect data, and 485 samples of employees in Chinese start-ups were collected. Regression analysis and structural equation model were used to analyze data and verify hypotheses.Results: The study shows that entrepreneurial leadership has a significant positive effect on employees’ affective commitment and tacit knowledge sharing. Affective commitment plays a mediating effect between entrepreneurial leadership and employees’ tacit knowledge sharing. Career growth opportunities play a positive moderating role in the impact of entrepreneurial leadership on affective commitment and tacit knowledge sharing, and positively moderate the indirect effect of entrepreneurial leadership on tacit knowledge sharing through affective commitment.Conclusion: The research illustrates that the managers of start-ups can improve employees’ affective commitment by giving full play to entrepreneurial leadership and combining the career growth opportunities provided by the organization. Employees’ tacit knowledge sharing behavior is stimulated, providing guiding value for knowledge management and the human resource management of start-ups.Keywords: entrepreneurial leadership, tacit knowledge sharing, affective commitment, career growth opportunities