Promoting teacher knowledge sharing in China: The fostering roles of authentic leadership, reciprocity norms, and organizational trust

Knowledge sharing is a fundamental resource for enhancing the competitiveness of schools. However, in many Chinese schools, there is a low level of teacher knowledge sharing. To address this issue, this study aimed to explain teacher knowledge sharing through principal authentic leadership, reciprocal norms, and organizational trust. Data from 4,524 teachers in 16 provinces in mainland China were analyzed using a structural equation model and bootstrapping tests. The results revealed that principal authentic leadership had a positive association with teacher knowledge sharing. Reciprocity norms and organizational trust not only served as independent mediators between authentic leadership and teachers' knowledge sharing but also played a chain-mediating role. Moreover, the separate mediating effect of organizational trust was the most significant, accounting for 29.17% of the total effect. This study underscores the importance of authentic leadership, reciprocal norms, and organizational trust and provides recommendations for school management practices.