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https://doi.org/10.1037/a0012695

has been cited by the following article:

• TITLE: Observed Coworker Helping Behavior and Employees’ Knowledge-Sharing Behavior: A Double-Edged Effect from a Third-Party Observer Perspective

  AUTHORS: Lang Zhou, Yi Xing, Xinying Liu

  KEYWORDS: Observed Coworker Helping Behavior, Perceived Cooperative Norms, Perceived Workplace Ostracism, Task Interdependence, Knowledge Sharing Behavior

  JOURNAL NAME: Open Journal of Applied Sciences, Vol.16 No.5, May 15, 2026

  ABSTRACT: Drawing on social information processing theory, this study adopts a third-party observer perspective to examine the mechanisms through which observed coworker helping behavior influences employees’ knowledge sharing behavior, as well as the boundary conditions of this relationship. Using data collected from 297 participants, we develop and test a moderated dual-mediation model. The results show that observed coworker helping behavior has a double-edged effect on knowledge sharing behavior. On the one hand, it promotes knowledge sharing behavior by enhancing employees’ perceived cooperative norms; on the other hand, it inhibits knowledge sharing behavior by increasing employees’ perceived workplace ostracism. Further analyses reveal that task interdependence strengthens the positive effect of observed coworker helping behavior on perceived cooperative norms while weakening its positive effect on perceived workplace ostracism, thereby further moderating the two indirect pathways. This study extends research on helping behavior by introducing a third-party perspective and uncovers the dual mechanisms and contextual dependence underlying the effect of observed coworker helping behavior on employees’ knowledge sharing behavior.