Empowering leadership and knowledge management: the mediating role of followers' technology use

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of empowering leadership in intraorganizational knowledge management practices and to reveal how followers' acceptance and use of the hotel management system affect this role.Design/methodology/approachA serial multiple mediation model was evaluated and tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The database was created from the results of a structured questionnaire obtained from 401 employees working in hotels in Turkey.FindingsThe findings of the study reveal that empowering leadership has a significant effect on followers' knowledge creation, sharing and application. It was also found that the acceptance and use of the hotel management system were partially complementary to the impact of empowering leadership on followers' knowledge management practices.Practical implicationsThis paper gives an insight into the empowering leader's role in gathering useful knowledge, which is self-managed within the organization, by encouraging, motivating, providing autonomous and supportive conditions and making it beneficial and easier for their followers to adapt to the organization's technologies.Originality/valueThe efficient management of knowledge in organizations through the use of technology is possible by distributing power to subordinates through expanding the theory of knowledge management, leadership and the acceptance and use of technology. Furthermore, this study contributes to the literature by establishing the theoretical foundation of the relationship between empowering leadership and knowledge management practices based on Dalkir's knowledge management model and by discussing the mediating effect of the core variables of the UTAUT model.