Transformational leadership and team communities of practice: overcoming knowledge sharing barriers

Purpose Promoting knowledge sharing and preventing knowledge withholding are crucial for organizations. Drawing on organizational support and transformational leadership theories, this study aims to examine how transformational leadership influences knowledge creation, knowledge sharing with other teams and knowledge withholding from other teams, mediated through perceived team communities of practice (CoPs). Design/methodology/approach A three-wave questionnaire survey was administered to 444 employees working in various organizations in Japan. Structural equation modeling and a latent moderated structural equation approach were used to test the hypotheses. Findings The results indicate that transformational leadership promotes knowledge creation and knowledge sharing with other teams, fully mediated by perceived team CoPs. Moreover, transformational leadership negatively moderates the effect of perceived team CoPs on knowledge withholding from other teams. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature by identifying the role of transformational leadership and team CoPs in overcoming knowledge-sharing barriers in organizations.