The Interplay among Prosocial Motivation, Cultural Tightness, and Collectivism on Knowledge Hiding

Abstract

Knowledge hiding is defined as intentionally withholding information when being requested to share it. It has been shown by recent research that it frequently occurs at the workplace, and produces several negative outcomes at work, such as distrust, harming interpersonal relationships and diminishing levels of creativity. Nowadays, in a time of globalization, many employees are faced with working with colleagues from different cultures, raising the question of whether cultural aspects influence knowledge hiding, yet this issue remains rather unexplored by the extant research. This paper deepens understanding of the role of national culture dimensions in stimulating or preventing knowledge hiding. Specifically, we consider a three-way interaction between prosocial motivation, tightness (i.e., the intensity of national cultural dimensions), and collectivism (i.e., its content) in explaining knowledge hiding in organizations. Field studies involved working professionals in two different cultures: Slovenian (n = 123) and Chinese (n = 253). Contributions and implications of our studies for the fields of knowledge hiding and cross-cultural organizational behavior are discussed.