Published Online:April 2026
Product Name:The IUP Journal of Knowledge Management
Product Type:Article
Product Code:IJKM010426
DOI:10.71329/IUPJKM/2026.24.2.5-27
Author Name:Mary B Muhenda and Everest Turyahikayo
Availability:YES
Subject/Domain:Strategic
Download Format:PDF
Pages:5-27
This study examines the influence of transactional leadership on knowledge transfer in Uganda’s public universities. Using a cross-sectional survey design, based on a sample of 66 respondents, the study investigates how a structured, performance-driven leadership style shapes employees’ engagement in knowledge sharing, storage, and application. Regression analysis is applied and a regression model is developed, which yields an adjusted R² of 0.580. This implies that transactional leadership explains 58.0% of the variation in knowledge management practices. The findings indicate that leaders’ emphasis on performance monitoring and structured incentives significantly enhance participation in knowledge management activities. This approach supports both tacit knowledge, derived from experience and informal interactions, and explicit knowledge, which is documented and codified. The study proposes a model demonstrating how transactional leadership facilitates effective knowledge transfer by aligning employee actions with institutional expectations. These findings offer both theoretical and practical insights into how reward-based leadership approaches can strengthen knowledge management in formal organizational settings.
Transactional leadership is a structured, performance-focused leadership style that emphasizes highly regulated goal-setting, rewards, and corrective measures to drive task completion (Hafetz et al., 2023; Lee et al., 2021). This type of leadership is derived from the economics concepts of exchange.