The influence of Gendered Communication and Trust in Management on Knowledge-Sharing Behaviour among Health Practitioners in the UAE: The mediating and moderating Role of Organizational Citizenship Behaviour and Gender

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the influence of gendered communication (GCO) and trust in management (TIM) on knowledge-sharing behaviour (KSB) of healthcare practitioners. It also examined the mediating role of organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) and the moderating role of gender on KSB. Theory of reasoned action, social exchange theory, and self determination theory, were used to construct and support the hypotheses relating to the relationship between the study‘s variables such as GCO, TIM, KSB, and OCB. The data (n=457) was collected from the health practitioners in the UAE through a quantitative survey. By using SEM approach, the study found GCO and TIM has a significant relationship with KSB, while their relation to OCB were not significant. OCB was however revealed as partially mediating factor linking GCO and KSB. However, gender has no moderating effect on the association between OCB and KSB. This study has made several significant contributions to the existing literature. Particularly, the study filled the existing gap as to the knowledge regarding the associations between gendered communication, trust in management, organisational citizenship behaviour, and knowledge sharing in the health sector. v It was therefore expected to be one of the first studies that incorporated all the above variables in a single study in the contexts of the health industries across the Middle East. The study further provided the practical implications to the UAE‘s healthcare managers to promote the knowledge-sharing behaviour and organisational citizenship behaviour among healthcare practitioners