Impacts of leadership style, organizational design and HRM practices on knowledge hiding: The indirect roles of organizational justice and competitive work environment

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate how Leadership Style, Organizational Design, and HRM practices influence Knowledge Hiding. Organizational Justice and Competitive Work Environment are additionally considered as mediating variables of these impacts. 224 professionals completed an extensive survey with questions corresponding to the hypothesized effects. Based on partial least squares regression to test these hypotheses, this study shows that Leadership Style and Organizational Design mitigate Knowledge Hiding only when Organizational Justice is developed. While HRM practices can also decrease the intention of employees to hide knowledge in cases with high levels of justice, they may induce such behavior in a highly competitive work environment. Hence, this research contributes to knowledge management literature by examining the joint influence on knowledge hiding of organizational factors that genuinely describe an organization’s structure and climate. From a practical standpoint, we recommend that managers establish the right balance between justice and competition to reduce knowledge hiding.