The knowledge-sharing paradox: rewards, creativity, and the moderating roles of transformational leadership and emotional intelligence in employee cheating and turnover intentions

Purpose This study aims to examine how knowledge sharing behaviours within organisations influence employee outcomes, specifically turnover intentions and cheating behaviours, while considering both organisational and individual antecedents. It develops and tests an integrated model linking intrinsic and extrinsic rewards, employee creativity and knowledge sharing dimensions (donating, collecting and lurking). The study further investigates the moderating roles of transformational leadership and emotional intelligence in shaping these relationships. By analysing data from employees in the UAE using structural equation modelling, the research seeks to provide a deeper understanding of the dual nature of knowledge sharing and its behavioural consequences in organisational settings. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through an online survey administered via Qualtrics, following institutional ethical approval. Participants were full-time employees residing in the UAE who engaged in online knowledge sharing. An external research agency recruited respondents using professional networks, and screening questions ensured eligibility. Attention checks and pilot testing enhanced data quality, while post-collection cleaning removed inattentive responses. The final sample comprised 300 valid responses with balanced gender distribution and diverse educational, marital and income backgrounds. Established multi-item Likert scales were used to measure all constructs, and confirmatory factor analysis validated emotional intelligence as a second-order construct. Procedural and statistical techniques were applied to minimise common method variance. Findings The results reveal that intrinsic rewards and employee creativity significantly enhance knowledge donating, collecting and lurking, while extrinsic rewards show mixed effects, negatively influencing knowledge donating but positively affecting lurking and not significantly affecting knowledge collecting. Knowledge donating is strongly associated with reduced turnover intentions and cheating behaviours, whereas knowledge collecting and lurking increase cheating, with collecting also increasing turnover intentions. Mediation analysis shows limited indirect effects, with knowledge donating playing the most consistent role in reducing cheating. Moderation results indicate that transformational leadership and emotional intelligence strengthen several reward-knowledge sharing relationships, highlighting the importance of contextual and personal factors in shaping knowledge behaviours. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature by developing an integrated model that examines both the positive and dark sides of knowledge sharing, linking knowledge donating, collecting and lurking to employee turnover intentions and cheating behaviour. Unlike prior research that primarily focuses on organisational outcomes of knowledge sharing, this study uniquely investigates its direct behavioural consequences at the individual level. It further extends existing knowledge by simultaneously incorporating intrinsic and extrinsic rewards, employee creativity, emotional intelligence and transformational leadership within a single framework. The study also introduces cheating behaviour as a critical but underexplored outcome of knowledge dynamics in organisational contexts.