Relationship between supervisor support and teachers’ knowledge-sharing behaviors: the role of satisfaction of teachers’ basic psychological needs and trust in supervisors

Purpose Based on conservation of resources and self-determination theories, this study aims to investigate the relationships among supervisor support, satisfaction of teachers’ basic psychological needs, teachers’ trust in supervisors and teachers’ knowledge-sharing behaviors (KSB), including knowledge donating and collecting. Design/methodology/approach The authors administered a questionnaire survey to 1,522 primary and middle school teachers in China. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the mediating effect of basic psychological need satisfaction in the support–KSB relationship, and the moderating effect of trust in the relationship between support, needs satisfaction and KSB. Findings Supervisor support positively predicted knowledge donating and collecting. Satisfaction of teachers’ basic psychological needs fully mediated the relationship between support and knowledge donating, and partially mediated that of support and knowledge collecting. Trust in supervisors moderated the effects of support on need satisfaction and knowledge donating, but not on knowledge collecting. Practical implications Supervisors should strive to develop a working atmosphere that satisfies teachers’ psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Creating such an environment in schools and fostering trusting interpersonal relationships will promote knowledge sharing among teachers. Originality/value This study explored the motivational mechanisms for facilitating KSB. Findings elucidated the resource transfer process between supervisors and teachers, and the role that social contextual factors play in the efficiency of this process. This study distinguished the motivational mechanism of knowledge donating from knowledge collecting, revealing that donating is primarily autonomously motivated, while collecting may be facilitated by controlled motivators.