Openness to experience moderates the effect of abusive supervision on knowledge-hiding behavior

Abstract

Organizations recognize knowledge as a source of a competitive edge. Organizations have made significant efforts to improve the scope of information sharing among employees to improve creativity and innovation. Despite these safeguards, employees continue to conceal their knowledge from their coworkers. Further, leadership style plays a crucial role in employee behavior. Therefore, this study investigates the relationship between abusive supervision and knowledge hiding behavior. Moreover, the moderating role of openness to experience has been explored. Data were collected from faculty members (N=309) from the different universities using questionnaires following a simple random sampling technique. The results revealed a direct relationship between abusive supervision and knowledge hiding. Openness to experience was negatively correlated with knowledge hiding. Further, the moderating role of openness to experience between abusive supervision and knowledge hiding relationship was low but significant. The implications and limitations of this study are also discussed.