Employee sensemaking in organizational change via knowledge management: leadership role as a moderator

Abstract

Grounding on sensemaking theory, this study examines how employees’ sensemaking counters organizational changes with the help of knowledge management. Further, this study examines how effective leadership role in the corporate sector redefine their goals and values due to the current uncertain global situation to ensure their survival in a competitive environment. Our hypotheses were supported by a time-lagged examination of 403 employees working in Pakistan corporate sector organizations. Hierarchical regression was used to evaluate the study hypotheses. We also used the Hayes (2017) PROCESS macro model 7 to examine moderation mediation. The results show that employee sensemaking positively affects organizational change, and knowledge management mediates this relationship. Further, an effective leadership role is a buffering mechanism that strengthens the model. As a result, employees who use the broad pattern of sensemaking strategies increase their knowledge about unexpected changes. This research explains the study’s findings and delves into their practical and theoretical implications. Furthermore, this study also shows a limitations. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2023. corrected publication 2023.