Knowledge Sharing as the Mediating Role between Work Engagement and Organizational Performance in Higher Education

Abstract

The dominant narrative in work engagement research draws a direct line from engaged employees to better organizational outcomes. This study complicates and enriches that narrative by testing knowledge sharing as the mechanism through which work engagement is associated with organizational performance, situated within a conceptual digital knowledge ecosystem framing. Using PLS-SEM (SmartPLS 4.0) with cross-sectional survey data from 208 academic staff at Universitas Muhammadiyah Tangerang (UMT), all four hypothesized relationships were supported at p < 0.001. Work engagement was positively associated with knowledge sharing (β = 0.581) and directly with perceived organizational performance (β = 0.318). Knowledge sharing was positively associated with perceived organizational performance (β = 0.412). Knowledge sharing partially mediated the work engagement–organizational performance relationship (indirect β = 0.239; VAF = 42.9%), consistent with a statistically significant partial mediation pathway rather than a demonstrated causal mechanism. The model explained 33.8% of the variance in knowledge sharing and 69.4% of the variance in organizational performance, reported in full in the structural model assessment (Table 3). Digital infrastructure is discussed as a contextual condition that may shape this pathway, but no digital-platform variable was measured or tested in the present model, and this remains a direction for future research. These findings offer preliminary, correlational evidence to inform HR practitioners and institutional leaders considering how knowledge-sharing facilitation might complement engagement-focused interventions.