How social self-efficacy and emotional self-efficacy moderate the relationship between occupational stress and knowledge hiding in Brazilian software industry

Abstract

PurposeSoftware industry, one of the most knowledge-intensive industries, in Brazil has increased opportunities of evolution. Its competitive advantage relies on the efficiency of the organizational knowledge management, but the knowledge hiding, its antecedents and moderators are still understudied. This study seeks to identify a new antecedent to knowledge hiding, such the occupational stress.Design/methodology/approachThe author focused on the moderating effect of social self-efficacy and emotional self-efficacy in the relationship between occupational stress and knowledge hiding in software industry in Brazil. The author collected data from 189 software industry Brazilian employees in 30 firms using a time-lagged research design.FindingsThis study demonstrated that employees with high levels of social self-efficacy (SSE) and emotional self-efficacy (ESE) or both have more tendency to engage on knowledge hiding behavior comparing to their colleagues with low SSE and ESE. This study showed that SSE and ESE related positively to rationalized hiding, evasive hiding and playing dumb.Originality/valueThe author’s main contribution relies on the finding related to the joint role of social self-efficacy and emotional self-efficacy on engaging employees under occupational stress conditions in knowledge hiding behaviors.