Connecting the dots: exploring the role of ebullient supervision in fostering knowledge sharing through curiosity and informal learning

• Date: 09 September 2024
• Pages: 1849-1865
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJM-04-2023-0199
• Published date: 09 September 2024
• Subject Matter: Economics,Labour economics
• Author: Talat Islam,Saima Ahmad,Arooba Chaudhary

Connecting the dots: exploring

the role of ebullient supervision

in fostering knowledge sharing

through curiosity and

informal learning

Talat Islam

Institute of Business Administration, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

Saima Ahmad

Graduate School of Business and Law, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, and

Arooba Chaudhary

Institute of Business Administration, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine curiosity as a distal predictor of knowledge sharing

facilitated by informal learning. It also probes the boundary conditions imposed by ebullient supervision in the

influence of curiosity on knowledge sharing.

Design/methodology/approach –The authors collected data through a two-wave survey of 349

knowledge workers in the IT sector and used structural equation modeling to analyze the data.

Findings –The results indicated a positive relationship between curiosity and knowledge sharing. In particular,

informal learning was found to mediate the relationship between curiosity and knowledge sharing and ebullient

supervision was identified as a significant condition that strengthens the effect of curiosity on informal learning.

Practical implications –Organizations can promote knowledge sharing by harnessing curiosity as an

intrinsic motivator for employees to engage in informal learning. Moreover, the findings identified ebullient

supervision as an extrinsic motivator within the work environment, suggesting its potential to enhance the

impact of curiosity on knowledge sharing.

Originality/value –This paper broadens the limited literature on ebullient leadership by revealing how it

strengthens the effects of curiosity and informal learning on knowledge sharing.

Keywords Curiosity, Informal learning, Ebullient supervision, Knowledge sharing,

Self-determination theory

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

The transition to a post-industrial society has brought into sharp focus the critical role of

knowledge in driving innovation and securing a competitive edge. Scholars such as Messmann

International

Journal of

Manpower

1849

Authorship notes: Talat Islam and Saima Ahmad share the first authorship of this paper.

Conflict of interest: The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research,

authorship and/or publication of this article.

Ethics approval: All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in

accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with

the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The ethics

approval for this study was granted by the Institute of Business Administration, University of the

Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.

Participant consent: The survey participation was voluntary. Before taking part, the study

participants were provided with details of the project and assured that their responses would be kept

anonymous and reported only as aggregated results.

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/0143-7720.htm

Received 12 April 2023

Revised 7 February 2024

Accepted 12 August 2024

InternationalJournal of Manpower

Vol. 45 No. 9, 2024

pp. 1849-1865

© Emerald Publishing Limited

0143-7720

DOI 10.1108/IJM-04-2023-0199

et al. (2018), stress on innovative thinking amid disruptive changes when traditional skills

training becomes less relevant. Knowledge sharing (KS) emerges as a crucial strategic resource

in this dynamic landscape to unlock the collective intelligence within organizations. It fuels

creativity, enhances problem-solving capabilities, and ultimately propels businesses toward

achieving a competitive advantage (Fait et al., 2022;Wu et al., 2022). Research suggests that KS

surpasses the value of conventional resources such as financial capital and land (Venkatesh

et al., 2022). This unique characteristic positions KS as the cornerstone of success in a

knowledge-driven economy.

Recent studies show that KS positively predicts team cohesion, innovation, new product

development, and team performance (Fait et al., 2022). Given its significance, understanding

factors that encourage KS in the workplace is crucial. For this reason, research on

antecedents of KS has gained traction in the personnel management literature in recent years.

For example, Fischer (2022) observed that individual curiosity, motivation, skills, job tenure

serve as drivers of KS. Curiosity, in particular, has been identified as a notable human trait

that offers comprehensive benefits in the workplace context (Kashdan et al., 2020a). It is

defined as “the mental property that is pretheoretically used to explain why people actively

seek information” (Goupil and Proust, 2023, p. 105325). KS denotes the desire of an individual

to know or experience something which drives exploratory actions that are meant to alleviate

ambiguity through acquisition of knowledge. Curiosity is a type of motivation that prompts

individuals to seek out and explore new experiences. Since KS requires some form of

motivation (Nguyen et al., 2019), it is possible that curiosity bears a positive impact on

sharing of knowledge (Tsai and Zheng, 2021). Therefore, the current study investigates

curiosity as a potential antecedent of KS. Specifically, we explore whether curiosity acts as a

motivational factor, prompting employees to participate in KS.

Furthermore, we posit that the impact of curiosity on KS may not be direct, necessitating

the identification of mechanisms that underlie the effects of curiosity on KS. Prior studies

(see, e.g. Baburaj and Kumar, 2022) have shown informal learning as a predictor of KS.

Curiosity has been identified as a key precursor for both informal learning and KS, given its

inherent intrinsic drive to discover new things (Kashdan et al., 2020a,b). Curiosity drives a

set of actions connected to seeking, questioning and acquiring knowledge (Thompson and

Klotz, 2022) which may prompt individuals to engage in informal learning. Essentially,

informal learning is a personal motivation to acquire knowledge whereas KS is about making

the acquired knowledge accessible to others. People engage in informal learning to develop

new skills (Baburaj and Kumar, 2022) and this may foster an atmosphere where they interact

with others and share their knowledge (Uhunoma et al., 2021).

The current study proposes that informal learning serves as the connecting mechanism

between curiosity and KS. However, recognizing that employees may not always be

motivated to learn informally, it is argued that supervisors can influence their motivation in

this regard. Academic research and organizational reports highlight the crucial role of

supervisors in creating a positive work environment (Forbes, 2022;Taheri et al., 2022). In

alignment with this, a recent study by Ford et al. (2019) underscores that ebullient

supervision can be a valuable approach to cultivate a sense of fun at work: “An ebullient

supervisor is one who through words and deeds helps create a work environment that is

considered by a subordinate as a fun place to work” (p. 151). A fun or lively environment

enables employees to proactively enhance their skills for career success through learning

(Kortsch et al., 2019). Therefore, this study further explores the role of ebullient supervision in

shaping the influence of curiosity on informal learning.

This study aims to make several contributions to the manpower literature. First and

foremost, this study intends to theoretically enrich the field by integrating the literature of

curiosity, knowledge management in the light of self-determination theory (Deci and Ryan,

2000). Second, this study takes the first step in exploring the notion of ebullient supervision, a

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