Modelling the effect of perceived organisational policies on knowledge management in libraries: Focus on the moderating role of transformational leadership and professional commitment

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of perceived organisational policies (POPs) on knowledge management (KM) with regard to the moderating role of transformational leadership (TL) and librarians’ professional commitment. The study was conducted in three stages. First, the research moderating variables were chosen through an explorative study and surveying the librarians. Following the design of the theoretical model, the Delphi method was employed to validate it. Finally, the model was tested with a sample of 205 librarians working at Iranian state universities. To examine the causal relationships between the research instrument variables, the structural equation modelling technique and Smart PLS software were used. The results of the study revealed that POP was moderated through TL and the librarians’ professional commitment and affected the processes of knowledge acquisition and identification, knowledge generation and sharing, and knowledge application. The results, further, confirmed the strong effect of POP on professional commitment and the effect of TL on KM. The findings indicate that moderating the negative effects of POP in academic libraries could pave the way for the improvement of librarians’ job performance. To date, no empirical investigations have examined the effect of POP on KM in libraries with regard to the moderating role of TL and the librarians’ professional commitment. This study is assumed to fill this gap.