This study examines the relationships among total quality management (TQM) practices, green human resource management (GHRM) practices, knowledge sharing (KS), and organizational agility (OA) within the context of a developing country. It further investigates two underexplored mediation mechanisms: (1) the mediating role of GHRM in the relationship between TQM and knowledge sharing, and (2) the mediating role of knowledge sharing in linking both TQM and GHRM practices to OA.
This study is based on a structured survey questionnaire used to collect data from 154 Tunisian manufacturing firms. We used a partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to test our hypotheses.
The results show that TQM practices positively impact both GHRM and OA. Furthermore, GHRM practices positively influence knowledge sharing. However, there are no significant relationships between TQM practices and knowledge sharing and between GHRM practices and OA. The results regarding the mediating effects show that GHRM practices fully mediate the relationship between TQM and knowledge sharing. Simultaneously, knowledge sharing serves as a partial mediator of the relationship between TQM and OA, and as a full mediator between GHRM and OA.
The results of this study are specific to manufacturing companies in Tunisia and may not be generalizable to other sectors (e.g. services) or countries. Nevertheless, the findings provide valuable insights for manufacturing managers in Tunisia.
Theoretically, the study extends the RBV by identifying GHRM as the micro-level mechanism through which TQM generates green strategic capabilities, and advances KBV by demonstrating that agility in emerging economies is socially activated through knowledge sharing rather than structurally determined.
