Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of leadership and rewards on the contribution to knowledge sharing in public organizations of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 154 employees from various organizational units of a law enforcement organization in the UAE, and structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings: Leadership inspiration was found to be positively effective in enhancing the contribution of knowledge sharing in terms of solving problems, increasing opportunity and improving the productivity of the workforce. Furthermore, it was found that the reward system had no impact on the contribution to knowledge sharing. Research limitations: The method of data collection focused on the employees who were attending a training workshop in the department. This survey raises concerns related to non-response bias and common method bias, which describes the measurement error that is compounded by the sociability of the respondents who wanted to provide positive answers. Practical implications: This research focuses on the implementation of certain practices related to knowledge sharing in public organizations. The model was constructed to assess the impact of leadership and rewards on the contribution to knowledge sharing through knowledge sharing practices as a mediation. The study is a modest attempt to assist the organizational leaders to embark on the right steps to foster knowledge sharing behavior among employees. Originality/value: The study contributes to the literature on knowledge sharing, particularly on the relationship between leadership inspiration, rewards and contribution to knowledge sharing in the law enforcement organizations in the UAE.