Impact of knowledge-sharing culture on organizational creativity: integrating explicit and tacit knowledge sharing as mediators

Purpose Tacit and explicit knowledge sharing play crucial roles in today’s rapidly changing business environment, particularly in fostering innovation. However, uncovering tacit knowledge sharing remains complex. The purpose of this study is to analyze the mediating roles of tacit and explicit knowledge in the relationship between a knowledge-sharing culture and organizational creativity. Design/methodology/approach In this study, the authors developed an extended analytical process to analyze the impact of explicit and tacit knowledge on a knowledge-sharing culture and organizational creativity. This process combines two analytical techniques: necessary condition analysis (NCA) and partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). NCA identifies essential bottlenecks for a specific outcome, while PLS-SEM uncovers strong connections between predictor and outcome variables. The authors applied these analyses to a sample of 155 IT experts from a leading telecom company in the Turkish ICT industry to test the relevant hypotheses. Findings The findings of this study indicate that tacit knowledge, rather than explicit knowledge, partially mediates the relationship between a knowledge-sharing culture and organizational creativity. This mediating role of tacit knowledge is particularly pronounced in the ICT sector. Additionally, the impact of organizational capabilities on organizational creativity is amplified by higher levels of tacit knowledge sharing. Originality/value The effect of organizational capabilities on organizational creativity was found to increase because of tacit knowledge sharing compared to explicit knowledge sharing, depending on the knowledge-sharing climate.