How does responsible leadership enhance work engagement? The roles of knowledge sharing and helping initiative behavior

Purpose This study aims to examine the association between responsible leadership and work engagement through the mediation of knowledge sharing. Further, the study explored the boundary condition of helping initiative behavior (HIB) between responsible leadership and knowledge-sharing (KS) behavior. Design/methodology/approach Considering work engagement as a global challenge, the data for this study was collected from 386 employees working in various organizations on convenience basis. Specifically, the data was collected in two waves through a questionnaire-based survey method and structural equation modeling was used for hypotheses testing. Findings The results reveal that responsible leadership directly and indirectly (through knowledge sharing) affects work engagement. In addition, HIB strengthens the association between responsible leadership and knowledge sharing. Research limitations/implications The study collected data from a developing country. However, the findings suggest management should implement such practices that enable leaders to be more responsible. Such leaders create a learning environment that enhances knowledge sharing and promotes work engagement. Originality/value Based on social exchange, this study explored the mediating role of KS behavior between responsible leadership and work engagement and the conditional role of HIB between responsible leadership and KS behavior.