Knowledge-oriented leadership and team members’ change-oriented behavior: a social learning perspective

Abstract

As generative artificial intelligence reshapes knowledge work, knowledge workers – employees who create, share and utilize knowledge – are compelled to actively adapt to and drive these transformations. Knowledge-oriented leadership (KOL) can address their urgent needs for knowledge updating and skill upgrading, enabling them to adapt to and engage in organizational change. Given the importance of KOL, this study explores its relationship with team members’ change-oriented behavior, focusing on the mediating role of individual intellectual capital (the sum of work-related knowledge accumulated by employees) and the moderating role of task novelty in this relationship. We conducted two studies to test our model. Study 1 (field study) collected data from 376 members in 76 teams in three waves, and Study 2 (scenario experiment) used data from 237 participants. The results show that (1) KOL is positively related to team members’ change-oriented behavior; (2) individual intellectual capital mediates the effect of KOL on team members’ change-oriented behavior; (3) task novelty positively moderates the relationship between KOL and individual intellectual capital and (4) task novelty positively moderates the indirect relationship between KOL and team members' change-oriented behavior through individual intellectual capital. This study situates KOL within the framework of organizational change, providing a knowledge-based explanation of how leadership influences team members’ change-oriented behavior.