Original Research

The mediating effect of job satisfaction and knowledge sharing behaviour on job performance

Erlina E. Sasmita, Hamidah Nayati Utami, Ika Ruhana

Received: 29 Sept. 2022; Accepted: 14 Mar. 2023; Published: 12 June 2023

Copyright: © 2023. The Author(s). Licensee: AOSIS.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Orientation: Almost all companies in the world experienced shocks when the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic occurred. One of the major aviation companies in Indonesia, PT Angkasa Pura, is no exception.

Research Purpose: This study aims to analyse the mediating effect of job satisfaction and Knowledge Sharing Behaviour on the relationship between servant leadership and job performance.

Motivation for the study: The company experienced many changes during the Covid-19 pandemic which could have an impact on job performance, so it is necessary to conduct studies related to the influences that affect job performance.

Research approach/design and method: The research location is at PT Angkasa Pura I with a population of all senior manager of PT Angkasa Pura I. The sampling technique used in this study was saturated sampling and the data is analyzed using a structural equation model (SEM) with a total of 114 senior manager were obtained as samples.

Main Findings: The mediating effect of job satisfaction and Knowledge Sharing Behaviour on the relationship between servant leadership and job performance also shows a positive and significant effect.

Practical/managerial implications: Organisations need to maintain various factors that lead to increased employee job performance. The challenges experienced during the pandemic must be used as a lesson for evaluating and getting good job performance for all employees.

Contribution/value-add: The contribution of this research is a test of knowledge sharing behaviour, servant leadership and job satisfaction on job performance at PT Angkasa Pura I.

Keywords: job performance; job satisfaction; knowledge sharing; servant leadership; transportation.

Introduction

The current era of globalisation causes competition in the industrial and business world to be very tight. Every organisation wants every employee to have a good performance so that the goals of the organisation can be achieved. The accumulated employee performance is the organisation’s performance. The optimal level of employee performance will result in an optimal level of performance also for the organisation. Performance is a result of work achieved by employees in carrying out assigned tasks and based on experience, skills, sincerity and time (Hasibuan, 2006). Several researchers have revealed the importance of organisational performance in achieving the vision, mission and goals of the organisation. Talbot (2010) said that organisational performance is a discussion that never stops to be reviewed. Job performance is a benchmark to determine the achievement of goals in the organisation. Campbell et al. (1990) stated that job performance is influenced by several factors including declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge and skills and also motivation.

Motivation has a close relationship with leadership style. The success of leaders in moving members depends on how to create motivation within members, so that organisational goals can be achieved. One method that organisations can do to improve employee job performance is through leadership. An effective leader is determined by his ability to read the situation at hand and adjust his leadership style to suit and be able to meet the demands of the situation at hand so that the organisational goals to be achieved can be realised (Prawitasari, 2012). This leadership is needed in various industries, one of which is the aviation industry.

The aviation industry in Indonesia is the focus that will be discussed in this study. The company that is the main focus is PT Angkasa Pura I. This company continues to seek opportunities that can strengthen sources of income and the company’s progress amid the challenges of the pandemic. PT Angkasa Pura I is optimistic to support Indonesia’s economic recovery through improving performance and expanding its business portfolio business challenges. During 2021, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and its impact will still be a challenge for the aviation industry in the world, including Indonesia. This is a challenge in meeting the expectations of the aviation industry to recover and rebound. PT Angkasa Pura I re-adjusted short-term and long-term business strategies to face the various challenges that exist.

Human resources is a very important asset and can affect the sustainability of the company’s business. PT Angkasa Pura I strives to recruit quality human resources by prioritising the principles of openness, equality and fairness. The strategy in conducting recruitment is adjusted to the needs of the company and maximises human resources from local and national communities. PT Angkasa Pura I has a strategy in building international quality airports starting through the selection of qualified employee candidates to screen individuals who can contribute to advancing the company.

The quality and stability of PT Angkasa Pura I employees in their work are influenced by the opportunity to develop their potential, both technically and non-technically. PT Angkasa Pura I realises that the development of employee potential must be carried out in a planned and sustainable manner in order to achieve company goals and increase employee potential. The process of developing human resources is achieved by conducting various training programmes that are part of the Human Capital Management System (HCMS), which is a system used by management to build employee careers and increase employee participation in advancing the company. Based on several theories and empirical facts that have been described, it can be developed as a form of research aimed at looking at the effect of knowledge sharing, servant leadership and job satisfaction on job performance. The research gap in this study is related to the location and object of research, namely the employees of PT Angkasa Pura, which is the largest aviation company in Indonesia.

Literature review and hypothesis development

The grand theory used in this research is theory organisational behaviour, which is a study of what a person does in an organisation and how his behaviour affects organisational performance. And because organizational behaviour (OB) deals specifically with work-related situations, it emphasises behaviour related to issues such as work, absenteeism, job turnover, productivity, performance and management. OB involves the core of motivation, leadership behaviour and power, interpersonal communication, group structure and processes, learning, attitude development and perception, change processes, conflict, job design and job stress. Specifically, OB focuses on how to increase productivity, reduce absenteeism, reduce deviant workplace behaviour, improve organisational behaviour status and job satisfaction (Robbins & Judge, 2013).

The variables used in this study are knowledge sharing, servant leadership, job satisfaction and job performance. Knowledge sharing enables the exchange of knowledge among employees, thereby contributing to their job performance and organisational profits (Lin, 2010). According to Lee (2001), knowledge sharing has two indicators, namely explicit knowledge sharing and tacit knowledge sharing. Explicit knowledge sharing is knowledge that is in symbolic or written form, while tacit knowledge sharing is knowledge that cannot be expressed in verbal, symbolic and written forms.

Servant leadership refers to a leadership understanding and practice that places the good of those being led above the self-interest of the leader, emphasizes leadership behaviour that focuses on follower development and does not emphasize leader glorification (Hale & Fields, 2007). Servant leadership is a leadership style that puts the interests of employees first and helps organisations build a positive work environment in which employees develop feelings of commitment to the company (Kaya & Karatepe, 2020). Servant leadership delegates authority to their followers, prioritises their growth and development and makes them aware of the organisation’s expectations (Jaramillo et al., 2015). According to Liden et al. (2008), servant leadership indicators are emotional healing, empowering, helping followers grow and succeed, behaving ethically, putting followers first, creating value for the community and conceptual network.

Olson and Zanna (1993) stated that job satisfaction is a combination of two separate attitudinal characteristics, the first characteristic focuses on employees’ affective reactions to work, and the second describes the evaluation of employees’ desires from work. Locke (1969) suggested that job satisfaction is the result of an employee’s evaluation of job values and the values that the employee actually wants to achieve. Luthans (2015) states that there are several indicators of measuring job satisfaction, namely the work itself, wages, promotion opportunities, superiors and co-workers.

Job performance is a behaviour or activity carried out by employees when working with organisational goals and objectives (Borman & Motowidlo, 1997). Babin and Boles (1998) put forward the definition of job performance, which is the level of employee productivity towards his work related to his colleagues and some jobs that are also related to the behaviour and results that are expected to be achieved by the employee. Bernardin and Beatty (1984) say that indicators of performance include quality, quantity, timeliness, effectiveness and independence.

The hypothesis in this study was formed based on previous research by: (1) Sheikh et al. (2019); Tripathi et al. (2021); and Reslan and Zanete Garanti (2021), which states that servant leadership has a significant influence on job satisfaction; (2) Kim and Kyeong (2017), which states that servant leadership has a significant influence on job satisfaction; (3) Kadarusman and Bunyamin (2021), which states that servant leadership has a positive and significant influence on job performance; (4) Kucharska and Bedford (2019), which states that job satisfaction has a significant influence on knowledge sharing; (5) Phuong and Vinh (2020), which states that job satisfaction has a positive and significant effect on job performance; and (6) Venkatesh et al. (2022), which states that knowledge sharing has a positive and significant effect on job performance. All hypotheses in this study are closely related to the theory of organisational behaviour because they relate to human behaviour in an organisation so that good performance is formed at work.

Research method

This study uses a quantitative approach. Quantitative research uses deductive thinking processes in formulating research hypotheses. This research is designed to answer the problems that have been formulated, as well as to achieve the research objectives by involving hypothesis testing to determine the effect of the research variables. The quantitative approach in this study uses a survey method, namely taking samples from the population. The variables in this study are latent variables, measured using a research instrument in the form of a questionnaire. The survey was carried out by giving questionnaires to the respondents.

Variable measurement is carried out based on operational definitions from experts and previous research. The measurement of servant leadership variables is based on research conducted by Liden et al. (2008) with indicators, namely emotional healing, empowering, helping followers grow and succeed, behaving ethically, putting followers first, creating value for the community and conceptual skills. The measurement of the knowledge sharing variable is based on research conducted by Lee (2001) with indicators consisting of explicit knowledge sharing and tacit knowledge sharing. The measurement of job satisfaction variables is based on the theory put forward by Luthans (2015) regarding organisational behaviour with indicators consisting of the work itself, wages, promotion opportunities, top and colleagues. The measurement of job performance variables is based on research conducted by Bernardin and Beatty (1984) with indicators consisting of quality, quantity, punctuality, effectiveness and independence.

This research was conducted by considering the confidentiality of the respondent’s data. The research was carried out by not forcing the will on the respondents so that an approach was made to the respondents so that they would fill out the questionnaire voluntarily. The researcher guarantees the confidentiality of data by not disseminating any information related to the respondent. All respondents’ answers are only used for the purposes of this research. Data analysis was carried out using statistical methods, namely structural equation modeling (SEM) using WarpPLS software. This research was conducted at PT Angkasa Pura by taking primary data, in the form of perceptions or assessments from respondents. In obtaining this data, a survey was conducted by providing questionnaires using google form (online) because this research was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic to PT Angkasa Pura employees. The sampling technique used in this study was simple random sampling by taking a list of all employees and selecting a sample of employees using a random table. After calculating and generating random numbers, a total of 114 senior managers were obtained as samples.

The variables in this study were classified based on exogenous and endogenous variables. Exogenous variables are known as source variables or independent variables that are not predicted by other variables in the model. Meanwhile, endogenous variables are factors that are predicted by one or several variables (Ferdinand, 2002). In this study, there are four variables, namely servant leadership (X1), job satisfaction (Y1), knowledge sharing (Y2) and job performance (Y3) with the model presented in Figure 1. Figure 2 is the result of the analysis which is then further presented in Table 1.

FIGURE 1: Conceptual model by Researchers.

FIGURE 2: Direct effect.

Conceptual model of research

The research hypotheses were formulated as follows:

• H1: Servant leadership significantly affects knowledge sharing.
• H2: Servant leadership significantly affects job satisfaction.
• H3: Servant leadership significantly affects job performance.
• H4: Job satisfaction significantly affects knowledge sharing.
• H5: Job satisfaction significantly affects job performance.
• H6: Knowledge sharing significantly affects job performance.

Result and discussion

Measurement model

Table 1 shows that all indicators for each variable are significant as indicated by a p-value of less than 0.05 for each indicator on each variable. In this measurement, if the p-value is less than 0.05, it indicates that the corresponding indicator is significant, while the loading factor in this measurement indicates how much the contribution of the indicator forms or influences the variable. The higher the value of the loading factor, the higher the contribution of these indicators in forming variables. Vice versa, the smaller loading factor value indicates less contribution of the indicator to the variable formation. In the servant leadership variable, behaving ethically (X1.4) has the greatest influence in influencing servant leadership with a loading factor of 0.566 and an average indicator of 3.72 while the smallest is emotional healing (X1.1) with a loading factor of 0.350 and the average indicator is 3.65. On the job satisfaction variable, co-workers (Y1.5) have the greatest influence in influencing job satisfaction with a loading factor of 0.435 and an average indicator of 3.45, while the lowest is the work itself (Y1.1) with a loading factor of 0.308 and the average indicator is 3.84. In the knowledge sharing variable, tacit knowledge (Y2.2) has the greatest influence with a loading factor of 0.361 and an average indicator of 3.87 with the smallest loading factor, namely tacit knowledge sharing (Y2.2) of 0.352 with an average indicator of 3.77. In the job performance variable, quality (Y3.1) is the indicator that has the biggest influence on job performance with a loading factor of 0.420 and an average indicator of 3.78, while the lowest is quantity (Y3.2) with a loading factor of 0.305 and an average indicator of 3.89. After measuring the research mode for each variable, it is necessary to calculate the goodness of fit for the model in this study.

Goodness of fit

Model feasibility test or goodness of fit tests the suitability of a model proposed with the research data. Goodness of fit is an index or measure of the goodness of relationships between variables. Table 2 summarises the results of the analysis and the recommended values for measuring the feasibility of the model. Based on the results of the overall model feasibility testing, all criteria have reached the expected value limit or have met the critical limits of the recommended goodness of fit index. Thus, the model proposed in this study can be accepted or it is worth analysing.

Structural equation model analysis

Structural model test essentially tests the research hypothesis. Inner model is a model of relationships between variables. Significant influence between one variable on another variable is shown by p-value < 0.05. The result of direct effects in this study is presented in Table 3.

Discussion

H1: Servant leadership significantly affects knowledge sharing

The influence of servant leadership on knowledge sharing shows a coefficient of 0.267 with a p-value of 0.005. Because the p-value is less than 0.05, and the coefficient shows a positive sign; thus servant leadership has a positive and significant influence on knowledge sharing. In other words, a person’s higher servant leadership will increase their knowledge sharing. So, hypothesis 1 is accepted. The results obtained are supported by research conducted by Sheikh et al. (2019); Tripathi et al. (2021) and Reslan and Zanete Garanti (2021), which states that servant leadership has a significant influence on job satisfaction.

H2: Servant leadership significantly affects job satisfaction

The influence of servant leadership on job satisfaction shows a coefficient of 0.228 with a p-value of 0.018. Because the p-value is less than 0.05, and the coefficient shows a positive sign; therefore servant leadership has a positive and significant influence on job satisfaction. In other words, a person’s higher servant leadership will increase his or her job satisfaction. So, hypothesis 2 is accepted. The results obtained are supported by research conducted by Kim and Kyeong (2017), which states that servant leadership has a significant influence on job satisfaction.

H3: Servant leadership significantly affects job performance

The influence of servant leadership on job performance shows a coefficient of 0.395 with a p-value of < 0.001. Because the p-value shows a number less than 0.05 and the coefficient shows a positive sign, then servant leadership has a positive and significant influence on job performance. In other words, the higher a person’s servant leadership, the higher their job performance. So, hypothesis 3 is accepted. The results obtained are supported by research conducted by Kadarusman and Bunyamin (2021), which states that servant leadership has a positive and significant influence on job performance.

H4: Job satisfaction significantly affects knowledge sharing

The influence of job satisfaction on knowledge sharing shows a coefficient of 0.301 with a p-value of 0.001. Because the p-value is less than 0.05, and the coefficient shows a positive sign, thus job satisfaction has a positive and significant influence on knowledge sharing. In other words, the higher a person’s servant leadership will increase their knowledge sharing. So, hypothesis 4 is accepted. The results obtained are supported by research conducted by Kucharska and Bedford (2019), which states that job satisfaction has a significant influence on knowledge sharing.

H5: Job satisfaction significantly affects job performance

The effect of job satisfaction on job performance shows a coefficient of 0.317 with a p-value of < 0.001. Because the p-value shows a number less than 0.05 and the coefficient shows a positive sign, thus job satisfaction has a positive and significant effect on job performance. In other words, the higher a person’s job satisfaction, the higher their job performance. So, hypothesis 5 is accepted. The results obtained are supported by research conducted by Phuong and Vinh (2020), which states that job satisfaction has a positive and significant effect on job performance.

H6: Knowledge sharing significantly affects job performance

Based on Table 3, the effect of knowledge sharing on job performance shows a coefficient of 0.155 with a p-value of 0.001. Because the p-value is less than 0.05 and the coefficient shows a positive sign, therefore knowledge sharing has a positive and significant effect on job performance. In other words, the higher a person’s knowledge sharing, the higher their job performance. So, hypothesis 6 is accepted. The results obtained are supported and in accordance with the research conducted by Venkatesh et al. (2022), which states that knowledge sharing has a positive and significant effect on job performance.

The indirect effect of job satisfaction on servant leadership and job performance can be seen in Table 4. Based on the given table, it can be defined that servant leadership has a positive and significant effect on job performance with job satisfaction as a mediator. As the p-value < 0.05, it can be proven that H0 is rejected. In other words, job satisfaction is able to mediate servant leadership on job performance as much as 0.269. Such results are consistent with the mediation results on the knowledge sharing variable. Servant leadership has a positive and significant effect on job performance with knowledge sharing as a mediator. As the p-value is < 0.05, it can be proven that H0 is rejected. In other words, knowledge sharing is able to mediate servant leadership on job performance.

Conclusion and recommendation

Based on the results of this study, it was concluded that servant leadership has a positive and significant effect on knowledge sharing, job satisfaction and job performance; job performance has a positive and significant effect on knowledge sharing, job satisfaction has a positive and significant effect on job performance, and knowledge sharing has a positive and significant effect on job performance. The mediating effect of job satisfaction and knowledge sharing on the relationship between servant leadership and job performance also shows a positive and significant effect. In other words, all hypotheses in this study are accepted. So the theoretical contribution in this study is to prove each hypothesis in this study in accordance with the theory and previous research. The practical contribution that can be made based on this research is that companies can improve each variable in this study because each hypothesis or influence in this study is significant. This indicates that PT Angkasa Pura must maintain every quality of knowledge sharing, servant leadership, job satisfaction and job performance of employees in the company so that further research can analyse other sides apart from the variables in this study. Besides that, organisations need to maintain various factors that lead to increased employee job performance. The challenges experienced during the pandemic must be used as a lesson for evaluating and getting good job performance for all employees.

PT Angkasa Pura I needs to pay attention to all the influences between variables to maintain the quality of services provided to the community. With good results as in this study, it does not mean the company has stopped innovating. Precisely with good results, the company has a duty to improve the quality of service in the field of air transportation by increasing all variables attached to employees.

Limitations

The limitation in this study is that it does not calculate the mediating effect of the job satisfaction variable.

Acknowledgements

The author declares that they have no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.

E.E.S. was responsible for the conceptualiation, formal analysis, methodology, and the writing of the original draft. H.N.U. was responsible for the data curation, project administration, supervision, writing, review and editing. I.R. was responsible for the methodology, supervision, writing, review and editing.

This article followed all ethical standards for research without direct contact with human or animal subjects.

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the author, E.S.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the author.

References