Trust and stewardship in the digital workplace: knowledge governance mechanisms and the quality of enterprise social media contributions

Purpose This study aims to explore the effects of formal and informal mechanisms for enterprise social media (ESM) knowledge governance on employee knowledge contribution quality through the mediating effects of epistemic trust and knowledge stewardship climate, with perceived ESM surveillance moderating both. Design/methodology/approach Data collected via online survey from 296 participants via Prolific Academic were analyzed by covariance-based structural equation modelling in AMOS 24.0. Findings The findings reveal that informal governance mechanisms better foster both epistemic trust and stewardship climate compared to formal ones. Both mediators positively predict contribution quality. However, perceived surveillance has a double impact, as it dampens the trust–contribution relationship and augments the stewardship-contribution relation. Originality/value Integrating knowledge governance theory with organizational justice theory, this study offers a novel moderated mediation model linking governance structures, psychological mechanisms and digital monitoring to the epistemic quality of enterprise knowledge contributions.