The Roles of Tacit Knowledge Integration and Cognitive Resource Conservation in Fostering Sustainable Innovation

Sustainable human resource management focuses on creating work systems that support long-term employee effectiveness, knowledge use, and innovation while protecting cognitive resources. This study uses the Conservation of Resources theory to explore whether strategic laziness, deliberately saving mental energy by choosing tasks carefully, encourages innovative work behavior (IWB). The research used structural equation modeling to test a moderated mediation model. Results show that strategic laziness does not have a significant direct effect on IWB (β = 0.071, p = 0.112). Instead, it works indirectly by improving the efficiency of information filtering. Strategic laziness is associated with higher iinformation filtering efficiency (β = 0.146, p = 0.001), which in turn boosts IWB (β = 0.286, p < 0.001). The study also finds that Informal Network Participation helps integrate tacit knowledge (β = 0.400, p < 0.001), which in turn supports IWB (β = 0.333, p < 0.001). The moderation analysis shows that Task Complexity makes the link between information filtering Efficiency and IWB stronger (β = 0.1608, p < 0.001). An Error-Tolerant Culture also strengthens the connection between Informal Network Participation and Tacit Knowledge Integration (β = 0.2475, p < 0.001). The findings show that sustainable human resource management should give employees greater freedom to focus on important tasks, support flexible job design, encourage informal knowledge sharing, and foster a culture that treats mistakes as learning opportunities. These steps help organizations turn saved mental energy into ongoing innovation.