Social skills as a moderator between R&D personnel’s knowledge sharing and job performance

Purpose Research and development (R&D) personnel are an organization’s ultimate source of creative knowledge. Thus, their job performance ensures an organization’s innovative capability. Focusing on the process nature of creativity and innovation in organizations, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of R&D personnel’s active knowledge sharing on their job performance and highlight the significance of social skills by examining their moderation effect. Design/methodology/approach This study conducted a survey of 252 R&D personnel in 60 R&D organizations in large South Korean firms. Data reliability and validity were confirmed, and regression analysis was performed to test the hypotheses. Findings The authors found that R&D personnel’s knowledge sharing has a significant effect on their job performance. Furthermore, social skills significantly moderate the relationship between knowledge sharing and job performance. Originality/value This study addresses the existing literature’s limited understanding of the process nature of creativity and innovation by examining knowledge sharing as a personal engagement in the innovation process, which has a positive effect on job performance. The study also casts new light on the importance of social skills in fortifying personal engagement in the innovation process. The overall results will prove valuable in the selection of effective R&D personnel and the design of competency development programs for R&D organizations.