Impact of Paternalistic Leadership on Knowledge Sharing Behavior with the Mediating Role of Affective Commitment and Power Distance as Moderator

Purpose – This paper aims at examining the impact of paternalistic leadership on knowledge-sharing behavior with the mediating role of affective commitment and power distance as moderators. Design/Methodology/Approach – A quantitative research design was employed. For collecting data 300 structured questionnaires comprising of a 5-point Likert scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree) were distributed out of which 146 were received and used. Cronbach alpha, correlation, multiple regression analysis


| I N T R O D U C T I O N
Behind every efficient and effective working of each organization, there is leadership, which is not only merely the leadership but an effective one.Different people perceive various definitions of leadership (Jong & Hartog, 2007).One may be recognized as a leader when he has followers, inducing and guiding subordinates through broad knowledge, personality, and own specific living principles (Anwar, 2013).A leader is also recognized as the one who influences employees' Behaviors like knowledge sharing, innovations, and opinions (Yukl, 2002).Leadership has many types, styles, or categories, however, in this research, Paternalistic leadership shall be discussed.Paternalistic leadership has been the main focus and emerging trend of the researchers in the past two periods (Aycan, 2006;Farh & Cheng, 2000;kai, 2013;Pellegrini & Scandura, 2006).Paternalistic leadership is focused on providing such an environment where employees can provide ideas and new solutions, but the final decision is in the leader's hands.It is a sort of leadership where the leader acts as a father while subordinates are expected to get care and concern, and in return to be loyal and obedient.The leader also seeks to sort out employee's problems which may disrupt job activities (Anwar, 2013).Farh and Cheng (2000) characterized this leadership Behavior consists of three primary components: authoritarianism, benevolence, and morality.Authoritarianism states having absolute influence over employees to which they are bound rendering them incapable to do deciding on their own.Their final permission is granted by the leader.Benevolence indicates a good and friendly job environment, which strengthens and satisfies employee motivation level and performance which leads to better organizational outcomes.In morality, leaders like to follow rules and regulation, norms and culture, try to make the environment ethical, and in return expects that people will follow them.Due to this whole organization becomes ethical and everyone likes to work in such an environment.
For survival in a competitive and vibrant economy, knowledge is sustainable and the most significant source of an organization that provides a competitive edge over other rivals (Davenport & Prusak, 1998;Foss & Pederson, 2002;Grant, 1996;Spender & Grant, 1996).Knowledge is delineated as processed information like ideas, facts, figures, and skills for character, team, and organizational growth respectively (Alavi & Leidner, 2001; Bartol & Srivastava, 2002).Knowledge sharing is a way of helping and working in partnership with others for the generation of new ideas, sorting out issues, and executing measures and policies (Cummings, 2004;Pulakos, Dorsey, & Borman, 2003).Different ways like written communication, one-to-one communication, filing, classifying, and capturing knowledge for others are used for knowledge sharing (Cumings, 2004;Hedge & Pulakos, 2003).Previous research has delineated the relationship of paternalistic leadership and knowledgesharing behavior with similar titles by checking the effect of different moderating and mediating variables.
Authoritarian leadership has a negative impact on employees' opinion sharing on daily work-related issues having employee voice as a mediator (Dedahanov, Lee, Rhee & Yoon, 2016).When a leader is strict and challenging without being accompanied by benevolence characteristics; they do not enjoy a high level of trust of employees and reduction in knowledge sharing behavior.It is encouraged that combination of both strictness and benevolence characteristics in a leader which thrives trust, innovation, and knowledge sharing behavior (Tian & Sanchez, 2017).Knowledge sharing results in ideas generation and creativity (Amabile 1983; Perry-Smith 2006; Woodman, Sawyer & Griffin, 1993).Knowledge sharing is considered as a stimulating factor for organizations to create more knowledge and then shift it as a strength, more involvement of employees in knowledge sharing activities leads to innovative Behavior and creativity among employees (Yu, Yu & Yu, 2013).So, in general, we regard knowledge sharing behavior, we can have alternate names like innovation, creativity, and information sharing for it as well.Moral leadership influences subordinate charismatically, which corroborates Leader-Member Exchange Theory and Employee Creativity Behavior (Gu, Tang & Jiang, 2013).Ryu, Ho & Han (2003) discussed the knowledge-sharing behavior of physicians, but this is just limited to one professional group.
Ravasi and Schultz (2006) have delineated organizational culture in detail and settled that it has a strong impact on organization outcomes and employee behaviors.Culture has many dimensions (Hofstede & Bond, 1984).Power distance is one of them, known as the extent of inequality present between superiors and subordinates, it can be low or high varies culture to culture.Power distance influences knowledge-sharing behavior positively (Spiliopoulo & Lenz, 2005).In a culture where power distance is high paternalistic leadership is endorsed while in societies or organizations where power distance is low this leadership style is criticized (Aycan, Schyns, Sun, Felfe & Saher, 2013).Organization commitment is described as the psychological attachment of an individual to the organization.Among its various types of affective commitment is one which is in simple words delineated as emotional attachment, feelings, identification, and involvement of one with the organization (Meyer, Stanely, Herscovitch & Topolnytsky, 2002).Benevolent leadership has a moderate effect on affective commitment while both authoritarian and moral leadership are not significantly related to affective commitment (Erben & Guneser, 2007).Affective commitment mediates the relationship between human resource management and knowledge sharing in Spain (Ordaz, Cruz, Ginel & Cabrera, 2011).

. | P r o b l e m S t a t e m e n t / R e s e a r c h Q u e s t i o n :
In past decades' leadership has been a major interest for researchers, but in the case of Paternalistic leadership research is limited and many aspects remain unexplored (Pellegrini & Scandura, 2008).Paternalistic leadership research is still in progress, and much can be explored by testing this leadership in diverse contexts.
Future research should focus on variables like power distance and rationalism for measuring the influence of culture on Paternalistic leadership (Chen, Eberly, Chiang, Farh & Cheng, 2011).Concerning the aforementioned importance of knowledge sharing Behavior, it is an emerging trend for researchers and very few attempts have been made therefore further is needed.Special attention should be paid to exploring knowledge sharing Behavior by various leadership styles in various contexts and working groups (Ryu, Ho & Han, 2003).About suggestions, it is derived that relation between both Paternalistic leadership and knowledge sharing Behavior (specifically) is explored in very limited number and a very specific context, the inclusion of cultural and organization's various aspects is also encouraged for testing.So, this research aims at defining the impact of Paternalistic leadership on Knowledge sharing Behavior with the moderating role of Power distance and Affective commitment as mediators.

. 2 | R e s e a r c h O b j e c t i v e s :
The objectives of this research are: 1.To be acquainted with the relationship of paternalistic leadership and knowledge sharing Behavior among construction, manufacturing, project-based, and business professionals and organizations.2. To check the moderating role of Power distance and mediating role of Affective commitment in said relationship.3. To provide such a leadership model to organizations that they could implement for their justifiable growth.4. Provide an opportunity to upcoming scholars and researchers for more investigation in this domain.

1.3| I m p o r t a n c e o f r e s e a r c h
The main significance of this research is that it will provide construction, manufacturing, project-based, and business professionals, organizations, and other bodies as well a framework or model which they can implement for their benefits and sustainable growth.This study also provides a platform to explore more knowledge in paternalistic leadership Behavior with other models and variables.

| L I T E R A T U R E R E V I E W . 1 | P a t e r n a l i s t i c L e a d e r s h i p a n d k n o w l e d g e S h a r i n g B e h a v i o r
When employees face strict guidelines, undeniable obedience, uniform discipline, and punishment for not meeting expectations, their autonomy decreases, and they are unable to choose work Behavior of their own choice (Dedahanov, Lee, Rhee & Yoon, 2016).In an authoritarian climate of an organization, subordinates hesitate to share ideas, knowledge, and information because of the leader's fear and low tolerance.It is believed that authoritarian leadership because of undue restrictions, penalties and high obedience to leaders creates an unfavorable environment and refrains employees from freely working, brainstorming, thinking, and sharing ideas and knowledge.In other words, authoritarian leadership discourages knowledge sharing Behavior.

H1: Paternalistic Leadership (Authoritarian leadership) has a significant negative impact on knowledge sharing behavior.
Providing kindness and support to subordinates and in return expecting the same thing, taking care of an employee, his personal and family issues, and trying to sort out the reason if the employee is not performing as per expectations creates a conducive environment for productive work Behaviors (Farh and Cheng, 2000).When employees receive care, concern, and a friendly environment from their leader then they are supposed to be loyal in return, they feel indebted to their leader (Dedahanov, Lee, Rhee & Yoon, 2016).Hence it is deduced that in such a friendly, supportive, and careful environment, employees are free to work at their convenience where they can share knowledge and show commitment to the organization.Schweiger and DeNisi (1991) stated a benevolent environment of leadership as encouraging and supportive for knowledge sharing Behavior.

H2: Paternalistic Leadership (Benevolent leadership) has a significant positive impact on knowledgesharing behavior.
Leadership traits like honesty, organizational commitment and selflessness, project safety feelings for employees and they are more likely to speak, generate new ideas, encounter status quo and are more committed to sharing knowledge with their coworkers (Yidong & Xinxin, 2013).When leaders express selflessness and trustworthiness, employees get a likely environment for working thus are expected to reciprocate with ideas and knowledge sharing which may strengthen the organization.So, it is derived that the presence of moral leadership motivates employees regarding thinking, freedom in work, and knowledge sharing Behavior.
H3: Paternalistic Leadership (Moral Leadership) has a positive and significant impact on knowledgesharing behavior.

2.2|P a t e r n a l i s t i c L e a d e r s h i p a n d A f f e c t i v e C o m m i t m e n t
Employees working in the organization may get affected by leadership Behavior.They dislike being looked after in an environment comprising of factors like 'powerfully subduing', 'authority and control', 'intention building', 'rigorousness' and 'doctrine', In simple words, they feel hesitant to work when they are in manipulated or rule-governed supervision (Erben & Guneser, 2008).Higher intensity of authoritarian leadership in the organization leads to a lower level of trust in employees towards superiors which in turn disturbs team identification, which is part of affective commitment (Cheng & Wang, 2015).Hence it is inferred that authoritarian leadership doesn't provide a conducive stage for affective commitment where employees are emotionally attached to the organization.

H4: Paternalistic Leadership (Authoritarian leadership) has a significant negative impact on affective commitment.
Benevolent leader characteristics like individualized care and concern for the well-being of subordinates nurture employee emotional attachment, his identification with the organization, and as well as his assessment regarding costs linked with leaving the organization (Rehman & Afsar, 2012).Benevolent leaders are more interested in creating an element of gratitude among team members which in turn comes up with team identification between the members (Bergami & Bagozzi, 2000).It is perceived that features paternalistic leadership like friendly environment, care, pardoning, and understanding employees might cause affective commitment (Erben & Guneser, 2008).Thus, it can be hypothesized that benevolent leadership fosters affective Commitment among employees of the organization.

H5: Paternalistic Leadership (Benevolent leadership) has a positive and significant impact on affective
commitment.When leaders act in an honest and trustworthy way, they are involved in creating an ethical environment in the organization which may lead to effective commitment because of the virtuous effect on employees (Demirtas & Akdogan, 2015).Social learning theory narrates that demonstration of Behavioral characteristics by leader causes to get respect and attention from subordinates and identification of employee's upsurges (Brown, Trevino & Harrison, 2005).In addition, due to leader traits like morality, genuineness, and organizational commitment, employees assume their innermost which improves team identification (Cheng & Wang, 2015).So, it is derived that moral leadership qualities provide a platform for creating morality, honesty, team identification, and emotional and psychological attachment with a leader which in turn directs to affective commitment.H6: Paternalistic Leadership (Moral leadership) has a significant positive impact on affective commitment.

2.3| A f f e c t i v e C o m m i t m e n t a n d K n o w l e d g e S h a r i n g B e h a v i o r
Employees with a high level of emotional attachment, identification, and involvement with the organization are more likely to be part of knowledge sharing and knowledge management activities in the organization (Jo & Joo, 2011).Affective commitment is regarded as the uppermost level of attachment an employee can build with the organization (Carmeli, 2005).Factors like identification within a team or group (Nahapiet and Ghoshal 1998; H7: Affective commitment has a significant positive impact on knowledge-sharing behavior.

2.4| P a t e r n a l i s t i c L e a d e r s h i p , A f f e c t i v e C o m m i t m e n t , a n d K n o w l e d g e S h a r i n g B e h a v i o r
In preceding sections, it has been claimed that paternalistic leadership dimensions affect knowledge sharing behavior likewise affective commitment is also influencing knowledge sharing behavior among employees.
Affective commitment has been tested as a mediator with numerous variables like among the relationship of HRM Power distance role as a moderator has been discussed with different variables like job insecurity and moral leadership (Loi, Lam & Chan, 2012).So, based on existing literature in current research, we suggest that power distance ought to fortify the relationship of all dimensions of paternalistic leadership i.e., authoritarian, benevolence, and moral leadership with knowledge sharing behavior.

H9: Power distance moderates the relationship between Paternalistic leadership (Benevolence leadership, Moral leadership & Authoritarian leadership) and knowledge-sharing behavior in a
way that the relationship will be strong if power distance is high.

| M E T H O D O L O G Y & D E S I G N . 1 | P a r t i c i p a n t s o f t h e S t u d y
Usually, Behaviors like knowledge sharing, employee's commitment, and other variables which are discussed in the paper can easily be found in organizations having properly defined hierarchy, team-oriented approach, and trend of promoting creativity and innovative Behavior, thus by utilizing convenient sampling techniques, the collected data was from 3 public sectors and 4 private sector organizations having aforementioned characteristics.
There was a total of 300 questionnaires distributed, 146 of which were returned with randomly missing values with a response rate of 49%.Little's MCAR test was run for missing value analysis and EM (Expectation-Maximization) method was used as (TOLERANCE=0.001,CONVERGENCE=0.0001, and ITERATIONS=25).
The majority of the participants were males (51.4%) while Females were (46.6%) with majority education as a master's degree (63.0%).

3.2|S c a l e s / M e a s u r e s U s e d
All study variables were measured using a 5-point Likert Scale where 1 denoted Strongly disagree and 5 denoted Strongly agree.

Paternalistic Leadership
Paternalistic Leadership in organizations was measured using a 17-item scale established by Cheng, B. S., & Jen, C. K. (2005).Sample items included 1: Benevolent Leadership "My boss will help me when I'm in an emergency", 2: Moral Leadership "My boss treats his staff very fair" & 3: Authoritarian Leadership, "My boss asks me to obey his/her instructions completely.The Cronbach alpha for this scale was found to be 0.857.

Knowledge Sharing Behavior
Knowledge Sharing behavior of employees working in the organization was assessed through a 16 item scale settled by Andrawina, L., & Govindaraju, R. (2009).Sample items included "I always teach the skill I have to other employees within the department".The alpha reliability of this scale was 0.895.

Power Distance
Power Distance in organizations was measured with the help of a 5-item scale established by Wu, M. ( 2006).
The included sample items are "Manager should seldom ask for the opinions of employee's".0.806 was found as Cronbach's alpha for this scale.

Affective Commitment
Affective Commitment of the organization employees was measured by using an 8-item scale developed by Allen, N.J., & Meyer, J. P. (1990).Included sample items "This organization has a great deal of personal meaning for me".The alpha reliability of this scale was 0.790.

. | C o n t r o l V a r i a b l e s
For controlling variation in Knowledge Sharing behavior on demographic variables (Gender, Age, Qualification & Experience) the basis used in the study, a one-way ANOVA was performed.Results derived from one-way ANOVA (see Table 1) showed significant differences in Knowledge Sharing behavior across gender (F=2.530,p < .05)and experience (F=2.769,< .05).However, no significant differences were originating in the mean value of Knowledge Sharing behavior age and qualification basis.
Afterward, significant factors were included in regression analysis step 1 as control variables.Correlation analysis is performed to assess the strength as well as the significance of association among variables.The table, as shown above, signifies the association between Paternalistic Leadership (Authoritarian Leadership) with Knowledge Sharing Behavior is significant (r = .467,p < .001).Paternalistic Leadership (Benevolence Leadership) is in correlation with Knowledge Sharing Behavior as (r = .538,p < 0.01).Degree of association is also found among the relationship between Paternalistic Leadership (Moral Leadership) with Knowledge Sharing Behavior (r = .434,p < .001).However, the relationship between Paternalistic Leadership (Authoritarian Leadership) with Affective Commitment is found to be non-significant (see Table 2    that the relationship will be strong if power distance is high.To measure the mediating effect of Affective Commitment between Paternalistic Leadership and Knowledge Sharing Behavior two steps of mediation analysis were performed.Results reveal there is not sufficient evidence about the existence of mediation.As change in the dependent variable upsurges non significantly (r2 = .349,p < .001)increases to (r2 = .3530),but this change is not significant as (p = .371).

| D I S C U S S I O N
Results of empirical analysis have supported some hypotheses and also rejected a few.The authoritarian dimension of Paternalistic Leadership was predicted as having a significant negative impact on Knowledge Sharing Behavior, but the results are not supportive of this phenomenon and highlighted positive impact, as a hypothesis is rejected.This may be due to a high level of obedience among employees as the leader emphasizes fostering knowledge-sharing activities and employees' interest in learning and creating knowledge.Hypotheses two and three are accepted as Benevolence and Moral characteristics of Paternalistic Leadership nurture Knowledge Sharing Behavior among subordinates.This may occur when employees get care, concern, and a friendly environment from their leader then they are supposed to be loyal in return, they feel indebted to their leader (Dedahanov, Lee, Rhee & Yoon, 2016).One of the reasons for this could be the honesty and veracity of a leader as these characteristics lead to Knowledge Sharing Behavior among coworkers (Yidong & Xinxin, 2013).
Hypotheses four and five are proved to be rejected as results show the insignificant relationship between Paternalistic Leadership (Authoritarian Leadership) and Paternalistic Leadership (Benevolent Leadership) on Affective Commitment.This can be because of inspiration among employees which encourages them to have more exposure and find new opportunities.Results highlighted the significant negative impact of Moral characteristics on Affective Commitment, as employees with a high level of emotional attachment, identification, and involvement with the organization are more likely to be part of knowledge sharing and knowledge management activities in the organization (Jo & Joo, 2011).Based on results highlighted in Table 3 there was not sufficient evidence to predict Knowledge Sharing Behavior by Affective Commitment as the P-value is more than .05.Thus, hypothesis seven is also rejected.Furthermore, results reveal there is not sufficient evidence about the existence of mediation.As change in the dependent variable upsurges non significantly (r2 = .349,p < .001)increases to (r2 = .3530),but this change is not significant as (p = .371).So, hypothesis eight is also rejected.
Hypothesis nine got acceptance as results show that Power Distance fully moderates the relationship between Paternalistic Leadership and Knowledge Sharing Behavior.

| Managerial implications
Though it's obvious that most of the managers have a Paternalistic Leadership style when dealing with their employees, this was not understood how this leadership style is working in up-to-date organizations as well as how it affects employees' Behaviors.To generate such a surrounding, which is conducive to Knowledge Sharing, as an acceptable leadership Behavior is a primary consideration.This research seeks to fill up the gap in our knowledge and offers unique perspectives into the possible impacts of Paternalistic Leadership in a workplace environment.Furthermore, this study can be used in many organizations for focusing on Knowledge sharing Behaviors.Moderated and Mediated roles of Power Distance and Affective Commitment have been defined respectively, their results can be helpful for different organizations.

| Limitations and Directions for Future Research
For this study, the data was gathered from numerous public and private sector manufacturing and serviceoriented organizations only.Future research can be conducted using the identical research gap but in different sectors like healthcare organizations, and telecom companies so to enhance the generalizability of the findings.
this analysis was established on a sample size of 146 respondents chosen using the techniques of convenience sampling.It is recommended that future researchers should use a larger and more representative sample size to ensure the generalizability of the analysis.Future research should also look for the use of multi-source data collection and longitudinal design to evade traditional process bias.This study analyzes the impact of paternalistic leadership on knowledge sharing behavior with moderating and mediating roles of power distance and affective commitment respectively.So, it is suggested that researchers may study paternalistic Leadership with organizational justice as emerging topic.

R E F E R E N C E S
Cabrera and Cabrera 2002), prosocial atmosphere (Nonaka and Konno 1998; von Krogh 1998), obligations and norms associated with affective commitment impact knowledge sharing Behavior (Matzler, Renzl, Mooradian, Krogh & Mueller, 2011).Knowledge sharing Behavior is also categorized as extra-role Behavior due to immersion of discretionary effort, which is beyond the employee job description (Kim and Mauborgne 1997; Hislop 2003; Cabrera and Cabrera 2005; Tagliaventi and Mattarelli 2006).There is a plethora of literature that states a positive relationship between affective commitment and knowledge sharing Behavior and in the eyes of many scholars' affective commitment is the only one that encourages knowledge sharing activities in the organization (Schaubroeck and Ganster 1991; Hislop 2003).So, it is theorized based on existing literature that affective commitment leads to a conducive environment for knowledge sharing Behavior.
practices and knowledge sharing behavior (Ordaz, Cruz, Ginel & Cabrera, 2011) while leadership style is likely to impact HRM practices(Vermeeren, Kuipers & Steijn, 2014).So, in the consistency of this connection, we propose that effective commitment be the instrument through which paternalistic leadership impacts knowledge sharing Behavior.As aforementioned authoritarian leadership creates an unfavorable environment for working which decreases employees Behavior like knowledge sharing, but it can be deduced that an unfavorable working environment doesn't affect knowledge sharing behavior directly, however, a high level of strictness decreases employee emotional attachment and identification(Cheng & Wang, 2014).Accordingly, it is supposed that uncomplimentary working conditions first decrease subordinates' emotional attachment (affective commitment), then, in turn, affect knowledge-sharing behavior.The same sort of connection is also expected with benevolence and moral leadership, both are affecting knowledge sharing Behavior but not directly.Benevolence characteristics like kindness and concern foster emotional attachment and team identification(Rehman & Afsar, 2012) and moral attributes such as honesty, genuineness and organizational commitment lead to team identification(Brown,   Trevino & Harrison, 2005) before causing an effect on knowledge sharing behavior.H8: Affective commitment mediates the relationship between Paternalistic leadership and knowledgesharing Behavior Or H8: The relationship between Paternalistic leadership and knowledge sharing behavior is mediated by the Affective commitment2.5|P o w e r D i s t a n c e a s M o d e r a t o rIn high power distance cultures, employees count themselves inferior to the leaders(Tyler, Lind & Huo, 2000) and show extra obedience and deference(Farh, Hackett & Liang,2007).In such a scenario when leaders behave in terms of benevolence characteristics, employees are more likely to express stronger gratitude toward, trust in, and identification with their leaders, which may lead to involvement in creativity, while creativity is the result of knowledge sharing Behavior.(Amabile 1983; Perry-Smith 2006; Woodman, Sawyer & Griffin, 1993).In authoritarian leadership style, subordinates of high power distance are expected to have less consultation and interaction with the leader (Schaubroeck, Shen & Chong, 2017), consequently, it is inferred that this could direct to less trust, low commitment with organization, and low extra-role Behaviors like knowledge sharing behavior respectively.
independent variable increases to (r2 = .624),in the last step including the product of Paternalistic Leadership and Power Distance the effect size increases from (β = -.027) to (β = .301)significantly (β = .148,p = .000)which means the impact and relationship between Paternalistic Leadership and Knowledge Sharing Behavior are moderated by the Power Distance.Thus, we can accomplish that hypothesis 9 is accepted as Power distance moderates the relationship of Paternalistic leadership (Benevolence leadership, Moral leadership & Authoritarian leadership) and knowledge sharing Behavior in a way

Table 2 : Mean, Standard Deviation, and Correlation
The table indicates Descriptive statistics for each variable.Mean and standard deviation for each variable is presented as Paternalistic Leadership (Benevolent Leadership) and Knowledge Sharing Behavior mean and standard deviation values are 3.4089 & .803433.6320 & .61129respectively and so on of other variables (see

Table 3 : Correlation, Regression statistics with a p-value
Regression analysis was conducted to test the main effects.The result derived from regression analysis is shown in Table3.As shown by the results, therein lies a significant positive relationship between Paternalistic Leadership (Authoritarian Leadership) and Knowledge Sharing Behavior, this is contrary to our hypothesis 1 as it indicates that Paternalistic Leadership (Authoritarian leadership) tends to have a significant negative effect on knowledge sharing behavior.So, based on the results the first hypothesis is rejected.Hypothesis 2 is accepted because there is a significant positive impact of Paternalistic Leadership (Benevolent Leadership) on Knowledge