Ethical Leadership, Knowledge Sharing and Knowledge Creation: The Mediating Role of Knowledge-sharing Culture

Previous research assumes ethical leadership directly promotes knowledge sharing and creation. This study challenges that view by proposing knowledge-sharing culture as a full mediating mechanism in Jordanian manufacturing and service firms. Data were collected from employees and analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM) with bootstrapping. Results show ethical leadership has no significant direct effect on knowledge-sharing or knowledge-creation behaviours. Instead, its influence operates entirely through a knowledge-sharing culture, which fully mediates the relationship. This finding reframes ethical leadership as an indirect cultural catalyst rather than a direct behavioural driver. The study extends ethical leadership theory and contributes to knowledge management literature by clarifying the mechanism through which moral leadership translates into sustained knowledge outcomes via organizational culture. Overall, the study positions knowledge-sharing culture as the central explanatory mechanism, focusing on how ethical leadership influences knowledge outcomes indirectly through shared norms, trust, and collective behavioural reinforcement within organisations globally, with implications for research and organisational performance.