Abstract
The present study examined the direct and indirect (via relational social capital) relationships between supervisors’ ethical leadership and knowledge hiding. It also tested the moderating role of instrumental thinking in the relationship between supervisors’ ethical leadership and knowledge hiding and the relationship between supervisors’ ethical leadership and relational social capital. Data were collected from 245 employees in different firms spanning different manufacturing and service sectors. The results showed that supervisors’ ethical leadership was negatively related to knowledge hiding, both directly and via relational social capital. The results revealed that instrumental thinking moderated the positive relationship between supervisors’ ethical leadership and relational social capital, such that the relationship was weak when instrumental thinking was high. The results also showed that instrumental thinking moderated both direct and indirect relationships between supervisors’ ethical leadership and knowledge hiding, such that the relationships were weak when instrumental thinking was high. The study carries important practical implications for managers concerned about the destructive consequences of knowledge hiding.
Highlights
Knowledge hiding – a phenomenon of withholding and concealing knowledge intentionally from others who requested it – is a critical issue in the social fabric of a workplace that results in several destructive influences on employees’ and organizations’ productivity and performance (Connelly et al, 2012; Peng, 2013; Connelly and Zweig, 2015; Zhao and Xia, 2019)
We present a case of moderated mediation, whereby the strength of the indirect association between ethical leadership and knowledge hiding via relational social capital is contingent upon the levels of instrumental thinking
Given the detrimental effects of employees’ knowledge-hiding behaviors on employees and organizations (Connelly and Zweig, 2015; Bogilovicet al., 2017) and the scarcity of research on how to counter such behaviors, the present work based on a three-wave study show that supervisory ethical leadership was negatively related to knowledge hiding
Summary
Knowledge hiding – a phenomenon of withholding and concealing knowledge intentionally from others (e.g., peers and managers) who requested it – is a critical issue in the social fabric of a workplace that results in several destructive influences on employees’ and organizations’ productivity and performance (Connelly et al, 2012; Peng, 2013; Connelly and Zweig, 2015; Zhao and Xia, 2019). Connelly et al (2012) reported that 76% of the respondents from the United States sample hide knowledge requested from them. Ethical Leadership and Knowledge Hiding every year due to knowledge hiding, suggesting that knowledge hiding stymies managers’ endeavors to gain competitive advantage Despite these obvious destructive consequences of knowledge hiding for employees’ work-related behaviors and organizations’ long-term success, how managers can address it remains under-developed both theoretically and empirically (Men et al, 2018). Recent calls (Connelly et al, 2017; Men et al, 2018) rightly highlighted that the literature on the contingencies and antecedents of knowledge hiding is still in its infancy
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