Empowering management's capacities for improved knowledge sharing-a moderating effect of grit

The unpredictable business environment presents companies with various challenges. Stable companies are able to react quickly thanks to a successful knowledge sharing. To motivate employees to actively participate in knowledge sharing, managers should act as transformational and authentic leaders who synergistically form the basis for knowledge-oriented leadership. Previous studies have shown that these two leadership styles have a positive impact on knowledge sharing when practiced by leaders and managers, although the modalities of how these positive effects can be transferred to employees are still relatively unexplored. Grit, which manifests as passion and perseverance in the pursuit of long-term goals, could enable managers to transfer their positive behavior to employees and thus improve the share of organizational knowledge. The survey data was collected from 208 employees of European higher education institutions who are members of nine CEEPUS mobility networks and are actively involved in research activities and international projects. The general idea of this network is to promote the exchange of students and academics in order to enhance learning and cooperation in international projects of benefit to the real sector. The target groups were randomly selected from the higher education institutions active in seven networks, including Croatia (Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Monte Negro, Poland, Serbia, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia).
A moderated mediation model was tested to check whether grit improves the ability of managers to share explicit and tacit knowledge with employees. Due to the nature of the study and the potential risk of common method bias, several measures were taken to minimalize this problem. Data were collected from individuals representing both academic and non-academic staff, and the questionnaire contained clear and concise questions. Furthermore, additional analyses were conducted to investigate the potential risk of CMB. Several variables were used as control variables, including: gender, age, work experience and management position. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to determine the factor structure and calculate the measurement model. After checking the normality of the distributions, the data were also checked to see whether they fulfil the essential requirements for carrying out a factor analysis. To test the construct validity of the research model, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was carried out using the Lavaan statistical program. The results confirmed that gritty managers achieve better results only when sharing tacit knowledge. Since tacit knowledge is more complex than explicit knowledge and therefore requires more time and effort on the part of managers, HR can develop practices to enable managers to practice grit in sharing tacit knowledge and thus enable rational use of the organization’s knowledge.