Effects of workplace spirituality and trust mediated by perceived risk towards knowledge sharing behaviour

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PurposeThis research paper aims to provide an empirical examination to explain the relationship between trust, workplace spirituality, perceived risk and knowledge sharing behaviour among the non-academic staff of private higher learning institutions.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative methodology was adopted to examine the proposed relationship between trust, workplace spirituality, perceived risk and knowledge sharing behaviour. The study used survey data from 240 non-academic staff of private higher learning institutions in Malaysia. This research applied confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling to test the stated hypotheses of the proposed conceptual framework.FindingsThe empirical findings indicate that workplace spirituality has a significant positive influence on knowledge sharing behaviour, whereas trust is found to have a positive effect, mediated by perceived risk, on the knowledge sharing behaviour among the non-academic staff of private higher learning institutions.Research limitations/implicationsThe study was limited to private higher learning institutions in Malaysia, and used a cross-sectional research design. Further investigations into the moderating effect of socio-demographic variables are necessary.Practical implicationsThe results of this survey provide constructive information towards understanding the extent of knowledge sharing predictors at the individual and non-academic staff levels in the context of private higher learning institutions in Malaysia. Thus, this empirical study serves as a baseline research for this unexplored scope as it provides new information in this field.Originality/valuePrevious studies have not tested the function of trust and workplace spirituality from the perspective of non-academic staff employed in private higher learning institutions.