A meta-analysis of horizontal leadership and knowledge sharing

In the era of knowledge economy, knowledge sharing is one of the important factors for organizational success, meanwhile, horizontal leadership is becoming a trend in team leadership. This study conducted a meta-analysis of 23 studies involving 7119 participants to examine the effects of two types of horizontal leadership (shared leadership, and distributed leadership) on knowledge sharing, as well as the contextual moderators of the horizontal leadership-knowledge sharing relationship. Findings revealed that both shared and distributed leadership had a positive impact on knowledge sharing and there was no significant difference in their impact. And national culture (masculine, long-term orientation, uncertainty avoidance) moderated the relationship between horizontal leadership and knowledge sharing. Specifically, the relationship is stronger in feminine, high uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation national cultures. Based on a meta-analysis, this study proved that distributed and shared leadership are redundant in predicting knowledge sharing. Besides, we identified the moderating effects of national culture that influence the horizontal leadership-knowledge sharing linkage, which enriched the boundary conditions for the impact of horizontal leadership on knowledge sharing.