Effects of responsible leadership on employee innovative behavior: the role of knowledge sharing and psychosocial safety climate

Purpose Drawing on social learning theory, this paper explores how and when responsible leadership (RL) enhances employee innovative behavior (EIB). To this goal, we introduced knowledge sharing and psychosocial safety climate (PSC) to construct a moderated mediation model. Design/methodology/approach We collected a sample of 411 staff from China and analyzed the data using SPSS and AMOS statistical software. Findings The results show that RL positively impacts EIB, and knowledge sharing mediates the relationship between RL and EIB. Moreover, PSC positively moderates the relationship between RL and knowledge sharing. Originality/value On the one hand, this study enriches the research on antecedent variables of EIB by considering RL as an important influence on EIB. On the other hand, it further enriches the research on the mechanism of action between RL and EIB by revealing the mediating and moderating role played by knowledge sharing and PSC between RL and EIB. At the same time, it also expands the boundary of the role of RL.