The impact of impression evaluation on knowledge sharing behavior: the moderating role of gender

Sharing knowledge is crucial for the growth of schools, enterprises, and society. While previous research has examined the factors that affect knowledge-sharing behavior from organizational and managerial perspectives, little is known about the impact of impression evaluation on knowledge-sharing behavior from an interpersonal perspective. This study aims to explore how the warmth and competence impression that recipients make on individuals affects their knowledge-sharing behavior. The findings suggest that individuals are more likely to share knowledge when they form a high warmth and high competence impression for recipients, as compared to a low warmth and low competence impression. The warmth priority effect was also shown in knowledge-sharing behavior, and a high warmth impression was more critical in knowledge-sharing behavior than high competence. On average, males tend to be more willing to share knowledge than females.