Abstract:

The aim of this research is to study the impact of organizational commitment on employee motivation with the knowledge sharing mediation effect.The study was conducted in the localities of Karachi city with a population of banking sector employees; sample sizes of 200 employees were drawn from the population. Structural Equation modeling was used as a major technique to carry out the analysis. SMART PLS software is used for testing the effects of mediating, dependent and independent variables. The results demonstrated that there is existence of strongly positive relationship between dependent variable; employee motivation & independent variable; organizational commitment that is mediated by knowledge sharing. From the perspectives of social exchange and leader member exchange theory, this study demonstrated how knowledge-sharing practices controls via organizational-commitment with employee motivation.

Key Words:

Organizational Commitment as (OC), knowledge Sharing as (KS) & Employee Motivation as (EM).

Introduction

The world is evolving very rapidly and in this trend of financial crises phase, most of the world economies is dealing with unpredictable future and faces huddles in economy prosperity. The foremost topic for organizations are the problem of employee motivation (EM) as far for domestic, local, government and private organizations (Han at. al, 2015). The success and failure rate of any organization depends upon its human capital. It is important for the organizations to have motivated employees in order to keep themselves economically to get competitive edge in the market. Employee motivation has become a challenge facing factor for overall industry (Chi, Hughen, Lin, &Lisic, 2013). 

Furthermore, Commitment to organization is explained as strength of a person from which they will be identified, or the degree at which they are involved in a particular organization (Meyer et al., 2002). Employee of an organization having strong organizational commitment most likely to continue their job because that leads them towards employee motivation (Ghani et al., 2004).  

Past Studies shows that motivated employees are performing well at their workplace tend to satisfy their customers at higher level, these performances helps in improving efficiency of organization and also enhancing the innovativeness & creativeness of an individual. Burney et al. (2009) illustrated that the more employee connects to their work place the more they admit procedures of that place easily, although, investigations disclose that the role of organizational commitment also motivates employees higher than anything else. 

Employee-Motivation is an important problem especially in Pakistan, employees are not much committed with their organizations, as low employment rate employees are not able to communicate their intent which causes the lack of knowledge sharing (Han et. al, 2015). Another review is directed towards an  IT professionals those have additional job opportunities as more and a lot of IT companies are competitive  for the most effective talent and are providing higher operating surroundings, higher salaries and other incentives. So, when associate IT skilled perceives the different job chance as high, his/her motivation decreases (Han et. al, 2015). 

As while on the other hand knowledge sharing could be an  predictor of worker employee motivation (Egan et al., 2004; Wright & Bonett, 2007). Knowledge sharing is the transfer of knowledge and skills in work that is being learned. It refers to the extent the exchange of knowledge in the job. Whereas, employees are most probably excel their position, when they have proper mechanism of knowledge sharing in their organization. In addition, the importance of commitment to organization is important to regaining a proficient and professional work-force (Nguyen et. al., 2020).

This research is distinctive in its own way as it analyzes the association of employee motivation with organizational commitment in large banking industry of Pakistan. From past 3 decades Organizational commitment has been studied surrounded by most of the scholars gave concentration of the issues that links to commitment of the organization not only gives high amount of productivity & opportunities of expansion but also gives their employees a high level of inner satisfaction and peace of mind & also help to retain employees with their associations (Nguyen et. al., 2020). 

However, the studies conducted in the Pakistani context with same dependent variable that is employee performance with an independent variable of human resource management practices in different sectors of Pakistan such as telecom (Ilyas, Farooqi, Ahmed, 2016) and service sectors of Pakistan. Previous researches in Pakistani contexts shows only the association in-between human-resource-management-practices with employee performance in banking sector only (Dar et. al., 2020), there is very less research conducted & found on other variables (organizational commitment & knowledge sharing) with employee motivation in banking sector together in Pakistan. The reason for carry out the present research is that in Pakistan these variables (OC, KS & EM) are not studied together specially in banking sector. Hence, banking sector goes as the heartbeat of present day trade and exchange to give them a noteworthy wellspring of fund. This growing wonder of globalization has made the possibility of adequacy more fundamental both for the non-money related and budgetary foundations and banks are the piece of them. Since two decades banking domain of Pakistan has noticed a drastic transformation from an overwhelmingly government claimed and entirely directed to a dynamic, dynamic and competitive banking sector (Masood & Ashraf, 2012). Currently, the banking sector of Pakistan is spread into public sector banks, foreign banks, commercial banks and Islamic banks. Therefore, the current encroachment remains an outcome of; continuous denationalization of the state claimed banks in mid of 1990s (Akhtar, Ali, & Sadaqat, 2011).To make maximum funds, is the major goal of banks, both effectively and efficiently. Furthermore, The ultimate objective of an organization is to increase its performance in terms of market share and to maintain a stable position in this competitive market and this is only possible when they will increase their workforce performance (Employee-Motivation is an important problem especially in Pakistan, employees are not much committed with their organizations, as low employment rate employees are not able to communicate their intent which cause the lack of knowledge sharing (Han at. al, 2015). Another review is directed towards an  IT professionals those have additional job opportunities as more and a lot of IT companies are competitive  for the most effective talent and are providing higher operating surroundings, higher salaries and other incentives. So, when associate IT skilled perceives the different job chance as high, his/her motivation decreases (Han, Chiang & Chang,2010). 

Knowledge sharing is the most affective and important way to improve employee organizational commitment and employee motivation in banking sector. Banking sector is the fast growing sector in this era and much technological advancement has been observed, in order to have productive workers and compete in market, it is essential for them to provide their workforce with motivated employees

Organizational-Commitment shows an imperative part in improving and increasing employee motivation, due to which organizations heavily spends on knowledge sharing training of employees. To evaluate the knowledge sharing outcomes it is crucial to know the transfer of knowledge sharing, employee do in their work. For effective results of Employee Motivation, it is significant for organizations to provide appropriate environment for training that can affect transfer of knowledge sharing in their work, Therefore, environment for training that can affect transfer of knowledge sharing in work. Lastly all these gaps can be satisfying by examining the impact of Organizational-commitment & knowledge sharing practices as a mediator on employee motivation.

Based on the current study gap, these research questions are formed;

RQ1: Does Organization commitment and Knowledge Sharing is significantly related to Employee Motivation?

RQ2: Does Commitment to organization is significantly related to Employee Motivation with mediating influence of Knowledge sharing?

Literature Study and Hypotheses Development Theoretical Review

The current study investigates the association between Organizational Commitment, & knowledge sharing on employee motivation. This research uses two theories, one is social exchange theory and other is leader member exchange theory to recognize the outcomes of knowledge sharing and organizational commitment, on motivation of employees.

In 1961 George humans proposed this theory of social exchange; the author described the social exchange as activity of exchange or interactive transform among two peoples. The perception of this elementary theory of social exchange is reward & motivation.The similarity of reward makes the people motivated that help them in taking decisions and impact on their behaviors, therefore that behaviors leads to motivation. Whereas rewards are the optimistic conclusions of social exchange, in order to estimate the worth persons take away the costs from rewards. If someone receives a good response in a positive manner so he will furnish same positive commitment and motivation in return, likewise if a person receives bad response in negative manner so he will show also same behavior in negative manner. This theory clarifies that on certain conditions individuals would take decisions like they look forward to durable advantages and positive commitment and motivation. In earlier studies the implications of theory of social exchange have been talked about. In one the study this theory also proposed that workers of the organizations think about their working environment as a center where they are fascinated to share knowledge. If workers have a reasonable decision in regards to dealing from higher management so their commitment & motivation will boost (Shan, Ishaq, & Shaheen, 2015).

Therefore, the theory of LMX was first emerged in a year of 1970 and later proposed by Haga, Dansereau & Graen in 1975. Leader member exchange was 1st theory of leadership who focused on the relationship of leader member. This theory illustrates how organizers in specific groups sustain their place to swap knowledge with their associates. In earlier studies the implications of this theory of leadership have been talked about like in one of the research the theory has been discover for informal associations with organizational commitment and motivation of their employees at work, this theory also helps in taking interest and boosting the employee motivation via knowledge sharing & give positive attitude to employees whose facing challenge of commitment at work (Wang, 2016). In another preceding research the theory also explains the quality of association will be higher between manager & employee if individual is motivated and reliable, its directly affected on the motivation of  individual (Casimir, Ngee Keith Ng, Yuan Wang, &Ooi, 2014).This theory can also verified expressions for the theory of social exchange like this way it explains mangers treat their employees unfairly for this it is necessary to build strong relationship or knowledge sharing and commitment among them, Leader member exchange plays an determinant role in motivation of employees (Sharifkhani, Pool, & Asian, 2016). 

Empirical Review 

Employee Motivation(EM) 

In every organization employees are considered as a backbone of a business. Employees play a vital role in organization’s success. For employees to work on their full potential they need motivation. Motivating employees is essential to increase profits and productivity of the company (Nguyen and Le, 2020). 

Motivating employees means enabling employees to effectively achieve their goals and converting them into a strong workforce. A strong workforce refers to the employees who understands and values organizational goals and norms. Many studies have shown that motivated employees achieve their goal more rapidly and efficiently. Motivation in employees increases their organizational commitment along with increasing their productivity. Employee motivation also plays a vital role for creative ideas (Tran, 2020).

Motivation means to provide with behavioral alteration. It helps and encourage employees of an organization to act and work towards a certain objectives set by the organization for individual employees and for organizations as a whole (Shahzadi, Javed, Pirzada and Nasreen, 2014). 

Grant (2008) suggested that employee motivation increase productivity and persistence. The motivated employee will help organization to achieve its goal and provide effective solutions. Organizations with motivated employees always have competitive advantage. 

As suggested by (Ryan and  Deci,  2000) motivated employees as compare to demotivated employees are more self-driven to achieve goals. These employees are more inclined towards autonomy. They avail every opportunity and help organizations to achieve its objectives. However, motivated employees are more committed towards their jobs and organizations. 

Furthermore, it is also stated by (Guay  et  al.,  2000; Vansteenkiste et al., 2007) that employees that are motivated will work more efficiently towards achieving their goals along with organizational goals. Motivated employees are committed towards their organization, which means that employee motivation plays a vital role towards organizational commitment and career commitment. Each employee desire and motivated to earn handsome amount of salary, money plays an important factor in employees motivation. Financial rewards increase employee motivation level along with increasing their performance and organizational commitment (Sara et al, 2004).

Furthermore, many studies have suggested that there are any other aspects that influence employee’s motivation level and provide positive impact on commitment to organizational. Social recognition is one of the influences that increases the satisfaction and motivation of employees along with encouraging them to increase their performance (Whitley, 2002). Numerous research has pointed out that rewards system have an ability to alter employee’s behavior and providing them with satisfaction and motivation to achieve their organizational objectives (Whitley, 2002). Furthermore, motivated employees are more loyal towards their organizations as they trust their organization and feel connected with its objectives and goals. These employees are a workforce of an organization and help the company to gain competitive edge. Employees are the most important asset of the business entity as no one can imitate the workforce (Baldoni, 2005).

Knowledge sharing(KS)

Knowledge sharing is referred as a process through which each individual has access to the knowledge shared by employees or organization. Basically it is an act through which the bearer of knowledge transfers it to other individuals in a form that can easily be understood IPE (2003). Davenport (1997) suggested that sharing of knowledge in organizations means that it should be share in a way that each individual can easily absorb and able to use it. The sharing of knowledge also refers as an act where a person who holds knowledge shares it voluntary without distinguishing between person to person. However, it should be different from reporting. Reporting is also a form of information sharing but that information is related to daily routine tasks and formats. Whereas, sharing refers a volunteer action in which employees consciously exchange information for the betterment and it should be between two or more individuals one who has the knowledge and other who is gaining a knowledge Hendriks (1999).

Knowledge sharing plays a vital role in organizations as it provides a bridge in-between individual and company. The sharing of knowledge helps individuals and company by linking their goals and providing them with competitive edge along with increasing their organizational commitment (Hendriks, 1999). As suggested by Cohen and Levinthal (1990) the diversity in employees provides diversified knowledge in the organization. This diversified knowledge sharing enables the organization to work more effectively and innovatively. Furthermore, the diversity along with knowledge sharing create a bond between organization and employees through which they can achieve far beyond then its competitors.

Boland and Tenkasi (1995) proposed that the sharing of diversified knowledge provides a competitive edge along with increasing success rate of the organization and providing a commitment towards common goal. Creativity plays a vital role for today’s organization to stand in market. Organizations and employees who practice sharing of knowledge in their organizations has provided some major creative innovations in the market organizations (Armbrecht, Chapas, Chappelow, & Farris, 2001). 

For the better utilization of the knowledge it is essential to share it between individuals, this process enables employees to gain knowledge more rapidly and easily (Chiang, Chuang and Hang, 2011). The higher the speed of knowledge sharing is the higher the speed of innovation will be. Knowledge sharing enhances the organizations quality along with creativity. For any organization to increase its growth, they need to facilitate an environment where knowledge sharing in appreciated so each employee will play his part to contribute knowledge (Nahapiet and Ghoshal, 1998). 

For the better utilization of the knowledge it is essential to share it between individuals, this process enables employees to gain knowledge more rapidly 

and easily (Chiang, Chuang and Hang, 2011). The higher the speed of knowledge sharing is the higher the speed of innovation will be. Knowledge sharing enhances the organizations quality along with creativity. For any organization to increase its growth, they need to facilitate an environment where knowledge sharing in appreciated so each employee will play his part to contribute knowledge (Nahapiet and Ghoshal, 1998). The knowledge in any organization is considered as the most important resource, as it cannot be imitate by any competitors. Knowledge resides in an individual and can easily provide a company with competitive advantage (Kim and Mauborgne, 1998).

However, many studies have suggested that the organizations with lesser knowledge sharing practices, shows less motivation and organizational commitment between employees (Davenport & Prusak, 1998; Hendriks, 1999).

Organizational Commitment(OC)

Organzational Commitment is explained as strength of a person from which they will be identified, or the degree at which they are involved in a particular organization (Meyer et al., 2002). Employee of an organization having strong organizational commitment most likely to continue their job because they want to (Ghani et al., 2004)Thorndike and Woodworth (1901) anticipated that exchange will happen as long as the Employees are said to be the key part of the business so commitment to the organization is said to be the key factor that leads to the Employee Motivation (Ali et al, 2015). Motivation of employees is a constant phenomenon that creates a serious setback for company (Maertz et al 2007)

Hypothesis Formation Organizational Commitment and Employee Motivation

Employee Motivation is affected by how much employee is committed to the organization; it would shows positively or negatively influences both in the industry. When there is a decrease in the organizational commitment, it results in creating a bad impact on the organization and ultimately leads towards the low motivation (Ali et al, 2015). All over the world, bankers constitute the major part. It has been discussed that “bankers are the nucleus of the economy of the country. Without the nucleus, the cell will not service” (AbuAlRub, 2007). Therefore, Similar study has been carried out in Malaysia (Alam and Muhammad, 2010), Organizational Commitment is said to be the basic goal of the worker to overcome the financial crisis this results in effecting on the individual and as well as the Employee Motivation. 

H1: Organizational-commitment positively impacts Employee Motivation.

Knowledge sharing with Organization Commitment and Employee Motivation

Previously, knowledge sharing which is mediator used as a predictor with Employee Motivation (Mensah, Asiamah, & Mireku, 2016) and also act as a mediator with Employee Motivation as a predictor in gas transfer company of Iran northeast (Farzaneh, Farashah, & Kazemi, 2014).

Moreover, Morgan and Hunt (1994), interrogated in his study that knowledge-sharing is trend to be the positive output of commitment. Organizational-commitment is deliberated to obligate an influence on the of employees’ level of knowledge-sharing with coworkers’. Employees, who are highly committed to the organization, whether through affective, continuance or normative commitment, the committed & motivated employees make a certain contribution to the success of the organization.They shared a practical knowledge and experiences within the organization, creating a well-maintained environment in the work premises and carrying a positive influence on the task-completion and employee motivation. In order to test this relationship more accurately, we design hypotheses as follows:

H2: Organizational Commitment positively impacts knowledge sharing.

H3: Knowledge sharing positively impacts employee motivation.

H4: Knowledge sharing mediates the association between organizational commitment with employee motivation.

Hypothesis Formation Organizational Commitment and Employee Motivation

Employee Motivation is affected by how much employee is committed to the organization; it would shows positively or negatively influences both in the industry. When there is a decrease in the organizational commitment, it results in creating a bad impact on the organization and ultimately leads towards the low motivation (Ali et al, 2015). All over the world, bankers constitute the major part. It has been discussed that “bankers are the nucleus of the economy of the country. Without the nucleus, the cell will not service” (AbuAlRub, 2007). Therefore, Similar study has been carried out in Malaysia (Alam and Muhammad, 2010), Organizational Commitment is said to be the basic goal of the worker to overcome the financial crisis this results in effecting on the individual and as well as the Employee Motivation. 

H1: Organizational-commitment positively impacts Employee Motivation.

Knowledge sharing with Organization Commitment and Employee Motivation

Previously, knowledge sharing which is mediator used as a predictor with Employee Motivation (Mensah, Asiamah, & Mireku, 2016) and also act as a mediator with Employee Motivation as a predictor in gas transfer company of Iran northeast (Farzaneh, Farashah, & Kazemi, 2014).

Moreover, Morgan and Hunt (1994), interrogated in his study that knowledge-sharing is trend to be the positive output of commitment. Organizational-commitment is deliberated to obligate an influence on the of employees’ level of knowledge-sharing with coworkers’. Employees, who are highly committed to the organization, whether through affective, continuance or normative commitment, the committed & motivated employees make a certain contribution to the success of the organization.They shared a practical knowledge and experiences within the organization, creating a well-maintained environment in the work premises and carrying a positive influence on the task-completion and employee motivation. In order to test this relationship more accurately, we design hypotheses as follows:

H2: Organizational Commitment positively impacts knowledge sharing.

H3: Knowledge sharing positively impacts employee motivation.

H4: Knowledge sharing mediates the association between organizational commitment with employee motivation.




Methodology

The current study examined the association between the OC of banking sector employees, KS, and EM. The conceptualized model of the current study is presented in fig 1; here, organizational-commitment is taken as the independent variable, and its impact is analyzed on a dependent variable named employees-motivation. In order to analyze the indirect influence of organizational commitment on employees' motivation, knowledge sharing is taken as a mediator variable. This study follows the quantitative research technique, and data is collected with the help of a close-ended questionnaire. There were a total of two sections in the survey-form; in the first section, demographic queries were asked, and in the second section, variable scale items were included. The scale items were asked on a five-point Likert scale representing "1=strongly disagree" to "5=strongly agree". By using the convenience sampling approach, banking employees were identified for the research survey. Following the recommendation of Kline (2016), a medium sample size of 200 individuals working in the banking sector of Pakistan is chosen. A survey questionnaire was generated on Google forms, and the URL of the questionnaire was shared with bank employees after informed consent. Personal questions were not included in the questionnaire to maintain the privacy of the respondents, and participants were assured that questionnaire data provided by them would only be used for research purposes. Organizational commitment is measured through its three sub-dimensions named "1=affective commitment", "2= Continuance Commitment", and "3=normative commitment". The research measure for organizational commitment is taken from the study of Nguyen et al. (2020). There was a total of 18 scale items for the organizational commitment variable. The sample items for organizational commitment are "I really feel as if this organization's problems are my own," "I believe I have too few options to consider leaving this organization," and "I owe a great deal to this organization." Employee motivation is measured through a six items scale adopted from the research of Shahzadi et al. (2014). The sample items for employee motivation are "I take pride in doing my job as well as I can" and "I feel a sense of personal satisfaction when I do this job well." For the knowledge sharing variable, "knowledge donating" and "knowledge collecting" sub-dimensions are studied. There were three scale items for knowledge donating, and four items were included for the knowledge collecting dimension taken from the research study of (Hooff & Weenen , 2004). The sample-items for knowledge sharing variables are "When I have learned something new, I tell my colleagues about it" and "I share my skills with colleagues when they ask for it." For data analysis, this research used SMART PLS for EFA, CFA and Mediation Analysis and SPSS for descriptive statistics.

Data Analysis

To investigate the collected output, SEM in SmartPLS (Ringle, Wende, & Becker, 2014) has been used with re-sampling method of bootstrapping along with the subsamples of 1000 has taken in this research (Hair, Ringle, & Sarstedt, 2011) this method has been used to evaluate the structural-model and measurement-model. Additionally, technique of (PLS)- Partial Least Square-(SEM) demonstration of structural equation is suitable for the analysis of proposed model of this research (Hair et al., 2011; Henseler et al., 2014). 

Wold (1975; 1980) and (Joreskog & Wold, 1982) introduced PLS, for representing the connection among numerous latent variable this technique is very proficient. Partial least square has the ability to purpose with unseen latent hypothesis & also ability to interpret the errors of measurement in the improvement of latent variables (Chin, 1998). Furthermore, the methods which have been used to analyze the effectiveness of the model are convergent-validity of the variables connected with latent variable (Cook and Campbell, 1979) 

and discriminant-validity (Campbell and 

Fiske, 1959) of the investigation tools.

Descriptive Analysis 

The demographics of targeted population represent responses from various employees belonging to banking sector. In Pakistan the sales sector has majority of man and the ratio of females’ staff is relatively lower especially in the manufacturing sector. The analysis of respondents profile shows the following results.



Table 1. Demographics (N=200)

Demographic of Employees	Percentile %
Gender
Male	85.82
Female	14.18
Age
Up to 25	12.55
25-30	21.05
31-35	13.76
36-40	16.19
41-45	20.64
More than 45 years	8.9
Education
Intermediate	35.62
Bachelors	51.01
Masters	13.36
Experience
Less than a year	14.97
2-4years	48.98
5-7 years	15.38
8-10 years	7.69
11-13 years	12.14
More than 13 years	0.8

 


Out of the 200 bank-employees, in which 170 of the bankers were males contributing about 85.82% of the population, therefore 30 of the females making up to 14.18% . 31 of the employees’ age up to 25 years making 12.55% while 52 employees are aged between 25 to 30 years contributing 21.05%, 34 employees are aged between 31 to 35 years comprising of 13.76% , 40 workers i.e. 16.19%  are under the age bracket of 36 to 40 years of age, 51 are between age of 45-50 that makes 20.64% of sample size and only 22 (8.90%) were above 50 years of age. As divided on the basis of educational level; 78 salesmen had an education up to Intermediate, 136 were graduates and only 33 were masters. The experience levels also varied throughout the responses and there were 37 individuals that have less than a year experience, 121 workers had 2 to 4 years of experience are 29 employees had 5 to 7 years of experience, 19 with an experience of 8 to 10 years, while 30 individuals had an experience of 11 to 13 years and lastly there were only 2 people with more than 13 years’ experience.

Scale Reliability and Validity

The initial model comprised of 31 items as the PLS algorithm was run and the factor loadings were calculated the model is reduced to 28 items only by the help of factor loadings and the factor with < 0.5 

are deleted (Hulland, 1999 or Hair, 2013).

In the initial model, organizational commitment had 18 items, and in final model it reduced to 15 items (those items has reliability less than 0.5 was deleted). Therefore, no items reduction caused to KS and EM.

A partial least square algorithm is performed for the calculation of items of individual reliability as proposed by (Tabachnick and Fidell, 2007). In this the range is > 0.5 furthermore; all the items in this study have the loaded values above 0.5 as displayed in the table of measurement-model outcomes. 

Table 2. Measurement-Model Results

Variables	Items	Factor-Loadings	Cronbach's	Composite-Reliability	AVE
	EM1	0.637
Employee	EM2	0.630	0.740	0.821	0.531
Motivation	EM3	0.687
	EM4	0.715
	EM5	0.662
	EM6	0.616
	KS1	0.630
	KS2	0.648
Knowledge	KS3	0.625	0.759	0.831	0.581
Sharing	KS4	0.696
	KS5	0.705
	KS6	0.664
	KS7	0.507
	OC1	0.527
Organizational	OC10	0.532	0.874	0.876	0.695
Commitment	OC11	0.585
	OC12	0.522
	OC16	0.555
	OC17	0.639
	OC18	0.587
	OC-2	0.687
	OC-3	0.643
	OC-4	0.600
	OC-5	0.647
	OC-6	0.593
	OC-7	0.667
	OC-8	0.606
	OC-9	0.620

Note: EM=Employee Motivation, KS=Knowledge Sharing & OC=Organizational Commitment




As presented in Table 2 which is measurement-model the entire variable’s values of Cronbach’s alpha’s are greater than 0.7, EM is 0.740, KS 0.759, & OC 0.874 (Cronbach, 1951) which indicates that all the variables are reliable and consistent for our research.

Moreover, all the predictors meet the composite-reliability requirement which should be more than 0.7; EM is 0.821, KS is 0.831, and 0C is 0.876 (Nunnally, 1978) cronbach estimate the degree to which a series of latent construct indicator share in their measurement of a variable (Hair et al., 1998).

Additionally, AVE is the ratio of overall variance caused by the latent variable. In order to check the convergent-validity by (Fornell & Larcker, 1981) recommended that AVE should not be less than 0.5 that represents that atleast 50% of the variance is caused by the considered variable. Table represents all the values of AVE which is greater than 0.5 for EM, KS and OC.



Discriminant Validity

Assessment of discriminant validity ensures that a considered variable have the strongest relations with its own measures as compared to any other variable in the partial least square path model (Hair et al., 2017).

A discriminant validity includes three criteria foremost is Fornell-Lacker Criterion, second, cross loadings and then, HTMT out of which the most reliable is HTMT (Ringle, Henseler, & Sarstedt, 2015)

Table 3. Correlation Matrix

	Mean	SD	EM	KS	OC
EM	3.73	0.56	0.659
KS	3.48	0.25	0.582	0.642
OC	4.26	0.21	0.620	0.557	0.603

Note: The diagonal-elements (bold) represent the square root of AVE (average variance extracted).




Descriptive analysis of variables indicates the central tendency of the data. The responses for organizational commitment scale moved between agree to strongly agree, whereas responses of employee motivation & knowledge sharing remained between neutral to agree. Standard deviation explains the spread of data in the form of variation from mean. The responses varied from each other and the degree of variance remained OC 0.21, EM 0.56, and KS 0.25 respectively.

The standard of assessing discriminant validity is to use Fornell & Lacker criteria. This technique compares sq. root of the AVE with correlation of considered variables. These constructs should explain better the variance of their specific indicator rather than the variation of other considered constructs.

The table 3 confirms the discriminant validity as all the diagonal values are greater in their columns Fornell and Larcker (1981).

Table 4. (HTMT) Table

Heterotrait Monotrait Ratio (HTMT):
EM-DV
KS-MED	0.751
OC-IV	0.757	0.678

 




HTMT values confirm the Discriminant validity of the model because all of the values of the variables are< 0.9, (Henseler et al., 2015).

 

Hypotheses Testing

The hypotheses between the underlying

variables and dependent-variables are evaluated on the basis of significance-level for accepting hypotheses (p ,< 0.1), sign and t-value >1.96 (Wixom & Watson, 2001).

Table 5. Relationship testing of Hypotheses

Hypotheses	Regression-Path	Path Coefficient	T-value	P-Value	Relation type	Remarks
H1	OC ->EM	0.629	12.777	0.000	Direct	Supported
H2	OC ->KS	0.564	10.301	0.0000	Direct	Supported
H3	KS ->EM	0.339	4.312	0.0000	Direct	Supported
H4	OC ->KS -> EM	0.191	3.969	0.0000	Mediation	Supported

Note:****p < 0.01, ***p<0.05, 

 




The above table 4.4 shows a complete summary of all the hypotheses with their effect types and remarks.

H1: OC have a positive significant impact on EM (p-value = 0.00) and the Beta value of 0.582 indicating that one unit increase in OC will increase 0.582 units of EM.

H2: OC has significant effect on KS (p-value = 0.00 and t-value = 19.465) showing that a unit increase in OC will increase KS up to 0.617 units,

H3: In their study on KS and EM found a significant effect of these variables and this hypothesis is also supported by the results of our findings.

H4: Is accepted as OC has an direct significant positive effect on EM (p-value = 0.00 and t-value = 12.77) so this indicates that knowledge sharing mediate the effect of OC on EM and every time KS will increase by 1 unit then EM will increase by 0.191units.

Therefore, the total effects table represents the values of all the considered variables including Independent Variables, mediator and the dependent variable. The research results interprets that H1, H2, H3 and H4 are accepted and all the relations are significantly positive , as the p value of all the tested hypothesis are less than 0.05.

Conclusion and Discussion

The aim of this research was to enlighten the impact of commitment to organization on employee motivation with the mediation of knowledge sharing. The study was conducted in the localities of Karachi city with a selected population of banking sector; a sample size of 200 banking staffs was drawn from the population. Structural Equation modeling was used as a major technique to carry out the analysis. The outcomes state there exist a strong relationship in-between dependent and independent variables that is mediated by knowledge Sharing. 

The outcome is stable with the argument of (Whitener, 2001) that social exchange theory and leader member exchange theory, showing that staffs who feel they are cherished by their organization remain motivated and may perceive high status in the organization.

Initially, the analysis of existing relationship in between OC and EM is performed. Organizational Commitment has a direct relationship with Employee Motivation. This result is supported by the study conducted by (Hu & Shi, 2015), that reveals that Commitment to Organization is significant predictor of employee motivation. The same results were also analyzed by contrasting organizational commitment and employee motivation by (Psilopanagioti et.al, 2012 and Hsieh, Yang and Fu, 2012). The reason behind these results are all practices of human resources represents the knowledge sharing and commitment, lead to boost their motivation to do work in organization and increase in the level of commitment towards their work.

Secondly, commitment to organizational is positively related with commitment to knowledge sharing(KS), Commitment has been seen as a powerful predictor of employee’s intentions to share knowledge with other employees (Mensah, Asiamah, & Mireku, 2016). 

Furthermore, Knowledge Sharing is positively related with Employee Motivation, The pervious researches on this study also indicates the positive results (Johnson, Worthington, Gredecki and Wilks-Riley (2016), Carlson, Ferguson, Hunter and Whitten (2012) and Lee and Ok (2012), because knowledge sharing with motivation of employees indicates increase level of motivation among lines managers and peers (in other words top management to lower management) which shows positive attitudes among them.

Lastly, Knowledge Sharing is introduced in the model as mediator, it reveals that strongly committed employees to their organizations are more motivated towards their job and the impact of KS positively strengthen the relationship of organizational commitment and Employee Motivation, these results are corresponding to (Gunnarsdo´ttir , 2014 ; Nguyen et. al., 2020) studies. These results show that more the knowledge sharing the get more it will get to handle organizational commitment and employee motivation effectively. A person with better knowledge sharing abilities handle commitment towards its organization in a positive way is to make it a constructive change (Whitener, 2001).

Practical Implications

This study is unlocking the new research

opportunities in the field of HRM practices, in the form of employee motivation, knowledge sharing & organizational commitment.

Management should provide training sessions for the employees in order to motivate them for the better understanding of their career success, which will eventually increase organizational commitment. In today’s era employee have to deal with more difficult and diversified issues than ever before environment is changing rapidly as the organizational situations and innovations. 

Bankers should provide counseling and knowledge sharing sessions to their sub-ordinates, so they stay committed to the organizations as todays employees are more committed to their organization.

Since, the banking sector is considered to be one of the most essential service sectors in Pakistan. The intention of this research is to provide helpful information regarding the relationship of Organizational Commitment and Knowledge Sharing with high performance of motivated employees. The management of this sector gains some useful knowledge from this research that is essential for them to recognize how practices of HRM influence on the performance of their employees. From the discussion above it has been noticed that banking sector of Pakistan has potential to have higher growth and share in its GDP in future .Therefore, employees are the main source that can help in gaining the larger share in GDP, so banks must spend on its workforce through training from which they transfer the learned skills into their work and help banks to maximize profits.

Theoretical Implication

The implications for the theory are, first of all, that the distinction between knowledge sharing and employee motivation, therefore the organizational commitment is indeed an important detriment of knowledge sharing. Our results point out the knowledge sharing in an organization as a central condition for organizational commitment and employee motivation. 

In contrast, to increase the employee motivation through practices of knowledge sharing so there should be fair polies. Knowledge sharing will also help in commitment to an organization like there should be positive environment at workplace gives freedom to individuals to take decisions and increasing the motivation of employees, those employees who are committed to their organizations are more productive and highly motivated at their places of work. Commitments of organization can internally improvement the employee motivation.

Limitation

This research had limitations, which may provide the basis for future research. Many means and resources are not available for this research first restraint is the shortage of time and sample size that disturbed the generalizability of the outcomes. As this study is only restricted to the Karachi city, which may not be enough for knowing the issues of all bank  employees from all over Pakistan.

Future Recommendation

The outcome opens a new door for researchers, they can also increase the number of variables used in this research and can employee different statistical tools for better understanding of this concept.

This present study is unique as it inspects the association of motivation of employees with commitment of an organization in large context of banking sector organizations in Karachi, Pakistan. Recommendations for managers of banking sector is; strategies and practices of HR must be fair-minded, transparent and based on the performance of an individual and contribution of overall organizational accomplishment for improved output.

Furthermore, results are based on specific cultural context which is “Pakistani culture” but if we conducted this study in cross cultural context in (multinational organization) so there is strong possibility that results will be different because their practices of knowledge sharing and employee motivation are more challenging. thus, there is a need to revitalize the practices of employee motivation in all cultural contexts.

Therefore, for the enhancement of employee’s motivation, there should be training programs related to knowledge sharing that may encounter the healthy work environment, healthy mind leads to productive, committed and motivated employee.

Furthermore, future researchers can also assume different items from the questionnaire adopted to meet their research objective and can also explore the other variables through qualitative study.  

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