Only a few studies have been conducted on job stress and transformational leadership (TL), particularly in the environment of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to overcome this gap and attempts to explore the impact of pandemic job stress (PJS) and TL on employees’ innovative work behavior (IWB) through knowledge sharing (KNS), while focusing on the importance of innovations for organizational survival and growth. The data were collected from 357 faculty members of higher education institutions in Pakistan and analyzed using the partial least squares estimation, a structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique. The results demonstrate that PJS positively impacts employees’ IWB, negating the negative relationship between job stress and IWB found in previous studies. Moreover, this study found a positive impact of TL and KNS on IWB. KNS also moderates the relationship between PJS and IWB while partially mediating the relationship between TL and IWB. Lastly, the theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

仅对工作压力和变革型领导 (TL) 进行了少数研究，特别是在 COVID-19 大流行的环境中。本研究旨在克服这一差距，并试图通过知识共享 (KNS) 探索大流行性工作压力 (PJS) 和 TL 对员工创新工作行为 (IWB) 的影响，同时关注创新对组织生存和成长的重要性. 这些数据是从巴基斯坦高等教育机构的 357 名教职员工那里收集的，并使用偏最小二乘估计（一种结构方程建模 (PLS-SEM) 技术）进行分析。结果表明，PJS 对员工的 IWB 产生积极影响，否定了先前研究中发现的工作压力与 IWB 之间的负相关关系。此外，本研究发现 TL 和 KNS 对 IWB 有积极影响。KNS 也调节 PJS 和 IWB 之间的关系，同时部分调节 TL 和 IWB 之间的关系。最后，讨论了理论和实践意义。