Organizational justice and knowledge sharing behavior: the role of psychological ownership and perceived organizational support

Purpose: Knowledge sharing (KS) has been consistently acknowledged as a critical factor in the organizational development and the betterment of employees. The purpose of this paper is to extend previous empirical research on KS by testing psychological ownership as an underlying mechanism between the relationship of organizational justice (OJ) and KS behavior in developing country context. The authors also examine the moderating role of perceived organizational support (POS) between psychological ownership and KS behavior.

Design/methodology/approach: Using a survey questionnaire, data from 348 employees of multinational corporations in Pakistan were used to test the research hypotheses. 

Findings: The results of this research reveal that dimensions of OJ (procedural, distributive and interactional justice) positively influence psychological ownership. In addition, psychological ownership is found as an underlying psychological mechanism between the relationship of OJ and KS behavior. The results also indicate that a higher level of POS strengthens the relationship between psychological ownership and KS behavior. 

Practical implications: Organizations can enhance employees’ sense of psychological ownership by providing them fairness in procedures and resources. Moreover, management can create a perception of equality among the employees which subsequently helps employees engage in sharing their valuable knowledge with their team members and other workers in the organization. 

Originality/value: This research suggests that psychological ownership and POS are important factors which influence the relationship between OJ and KS behavior and it empirically tests this model in a developing country context.