Stimulating knowledge-sharing behaviours through ethical leadership and employee trust in leadership: the moderating role of distributive justice

Purpose Drawing on social exchange theory, this paper aims to clarify the influences of ethical leadership (EL) on knowledge-sharing (KS) behaviours of employees through the mediating roles of affective- and cognitive-based trust in leadership. This work further offers deeper insight into the moderating mechanism of distributive justice in the EL–KS relationship. Design/methodology/approach Structural equation modelling (SEM) is used to investigate the influential degree of EL, aspects of employee trust in leadership and distributive justice on employee behaviours towards tacit and explicit knowledge via data collected from 339 participants in 75 Vietnamese firms. Findings The empirical findings reveal that employee trust in leadership positively mediates the relationship between EL and KS behaviours. In particular, distributive justice significantly fosters the impacts of EL on tacit and explicit KS behaviours. Practical implications Managers and practitioners should strengthen EL practices to build and maintain employee trust in them for promoting KS behaviours. In addition, research highlights the necessity of establishing distributive justice in organisations to enhance the effect of EL on KS behaviours of employees. Originality/value This paper is unique in its attempts to advance the insights on the theory of leadership and knowledge management by investigating the different moderated-mediation mechanisms in the relationship between EL and specific aspects of KS behaviours.