Moderating role of leadership between mass collaboration and quality of knowledge : a case of Iraq’s pharmaceutical sector

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating role of leadership between mass collaboration and quality of knowledge in the pharmaceutical sector of Iraq. Design/methodology/approach: The approach that has been taken for conducting the following study is through a questionnaire survey where it has been mainly distributed among the employees of the pharmaceutical sector in Iraq that has been accessed through social media platforms. The total number of individuals that have participated in the study consists of 334. As per the analysis, the Smart PLS tool has been used for analyzing the data where structural equation modeling has been applied. Findings: The results revealed that email, virtual meetings and professional virtual community have a significant and positive influence on the quality of knowledge, whereas discussion board is found to have an insignificant effect. Moreover, in terms of the moderating effect of leadership, it was indicated from the results that leadership moderates on email and professional virtual community concerning the quality of knowledge. Research limitations/implications: The sample of this study was limited to the pharmaceutical industries in the context of developing countries, specifically Iraq, and therefore, the results could not be generalized to other sectors in other countries because different cultures may lead to different results. Originality/value: The following study is considered to be the first research that addresses the importance of mass collaboration for the quality of knowledge in the organization of Iraq where the pharmaceutical industry is selected. This study also determines the importance of leadership for mass collaboration where its moderating role has not been analyzed in any previous studies.