Examining Structural Relationships between Work Engagement, Organizational Procedural Justice, Knowledge Sharing, and Innovative Work Behavior for Sustainable Organizations

Woocheol Kim,Jiwon Park

doi:10.3390/su9020205

Abstract

Despite the importance of the human/social dimension of organizational sustainability, this area of scholastic endeavor has received relatively little attention when compared to the economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability. On the basis of social exchange theory, this study posited the important role that employee work engagement is a key component for improving human performance for organizational sustainability. In order to do so, it suggests the important role that employee work engagement has on the relationships among various factors in the organization, including organizational procedural justice, knowledge sharing, and innovative work behaviors. A total of 400 complete responses from full-time employees in Korean organizations were used for the purpose of data analysis with structural equation modeling (SEM). The results demonstrated that organizational procedural justice is positively related with employee work engagement, knowledge sharing, and innovative work behavior. In addition, work engagement enhances employee knowledge sharing and innovative work behavior, and knowledge sharing enhances innovative work behavior. With regard to the mechanisms of these relationships, work engagement and knowledge sharing acted as significant mediators. Based on the findings, we suggested relevant research implications and recommendations for future research on sustainable organizations.

Highlights

Over two decades, the topic of organizational sustainability has continuously and increasingly received considerable attention from both academia and business because it is relevant to organizational performance [1,2,3,4,5,6] but it is crucial to long-term organizational success [1,7,8]
The main purpose of the current study was to examine the structural relationships among four research variables—organizational procedural justice, work engagement, knowledge sharing, and innovative work behavior—in a Korean organizational context
The current study contributes to the existing literature by empirically investigating and validating relationships among four research constructs

Summary

Introduction

The topic of organizational sustainability has continuously and increasingly received considerable attention from both academia and business because it is relevant to organizational performance (e.g., high profitability and enhanced employee work-related attitude or behavior including work engagement, knowledge sharing, and innovative work behavior) [1,2,3,4,5,6] but it is crucial to long-term organizational success [1,7,8] If organizations want to achieve and maintain sustainable development, it is important to consider environmental, economic, and social (i.e., human) dimensions in a comprehensive and enduring way [1]

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Conclusion