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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Organizational Psychology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1472527
This article is part of the Research Topic Psychological Aspects of Knowledge Management View all articles

Exploring the Relationship between Psychological Capital, Emotional Intelligence, Psychological Safety, and Knowledge Sharing among Ecommerce Practitioners

Provisionally accepted
Xuan Zhang Xuan Zhang 1Ziqing Xu Ziqing Xu 2*
  • 1 Business School, Huaiyin Normal University, Huaian, China
  • 2 Business School, Guangdong Ocean University, Yangjiang, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: This study explores the intricate relationships among psychological capital, emotional intelligence, psychological safety, and knowledge sharing among e-commerce practitioners. Grounded in social exchange theory, the research aims to fill a gap in the literature by focusing on the psychological and emotional factors influencing knowledge sharing in a fast-paced and highly competitive industry. Methods: This study used snowball and purposive sampling to collect 439 valid online questionnaires from e-commerce professionals in Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu, China. The survey, conducted from October to November 2023, explored the relationships between psychological capital, emotional intelligence, psychological safety, and knowledge sharing. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) with AMOS 26.0. Results: The structural path model revealed significant positive correlations between psychological capital and both emotional intelligence (β = 0.494, p < 0.001) and psychological safety (β = 0.297, p < 0.001). Emotional intelligence was significantly positively related to psychological safety (β = 0.513, p < 0.001) and knowledge sharing (β = 0.452, p < 0.001). Psychological safety was also positively correlated with knowledge sharing (β = 0.311, p < 0.001). Bootstrap analysis indicated that emotional intelligence and psychological safety significantly mediate the relationship between psychological capital and knowledge sharing (standardized indirect effect = 0.394, p < 0.01). Discussion: Based on the significant findings of this study, a key recommendation is to implement targeted interventions aimed at enhancing psychological capital, emotional intelligence, and psychological safety among e-commerce practitioners. Specifically, developing training programs focused on building resilience, self-efficacy, hope, and optimism can improve employees’ psychological capital. Additionally, workshops designed to enhance emotional intelligence and create a culture of psychological safety can encourage open communication and trust, thereby promoting knowledge sharing.

    Keywords: Psychological Capital, Emotional Intelligence, psychological safety, Knowledge sharing, E-commerce Practitioners

    Received: 31 Jul 2024; Accepted: 15 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhang and Xu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Ziqing Xu, Business School, Guangdong Ocean University, Yangjiang, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.