Jin Xiu, Jin Shanyue, Qing Chenglin
College of Business, Gachon University, Seongnam, Republic of Korea.
Department of Business Administration, Honam University, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
Front Psychol. 2023 Nov 27;14:1279964. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1279964. eCollection 2023.
This study sheds light on the literature on knowledge-hiding behavior in organizations and highlights a better and deeper understanding of the reasons for giving rise to knowledge hiding. In recent decades, knowledge hiding has been subjected to numerous studies in systematic literature reviews and organizational management regarding its impact on outcomes such as individual and organizational performance; however, the mechanism by which knowledge hiding is influenced by antecedents and the process of leading knowledge hiding has not been actively verified. In addition, most previous studies have classified knowledge hiding into one-factor or three-factor dimensions: evasive hiding, playing dumb, and rationalized hiding. To address these issues and limitations, we aimed to conduct empirical research, which have focused on four new dimensions (playing dumb, evasive hiding, rationalized hiding, and procrastination) of knowledge-hiding behavior. Unlike previous research, we provide a research framework for the process of hiding knowledge and verify the significance of the research model, drawing on the social exchange theory and conservation of resources theory to explore and verify the process of hiding knowledge. Specifically, we argue that knowledge hiding is caused by exploitative leadership, and psychological distress as mediators in the relationship between these two variables. Moreover, the moderating and mediating effects of leader incivility were verified. To empirically test the research model, a survey was conducted with 287 employees from small- and medium-sized enterprises in China. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), SPSS PROCESS, and AMOS software were used for statistical analyzes. The findings provide evidence that exploitative leadership positively influences both psychological distress and the four dimensions of knowledge hiding. In addition, the mediating effect of psychological distress and the moderating effect of leader incivility were verified and shown to be statistically significant. Based on these findings, the theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed. Overall, the most important contribution is expanding the research field, as this is the first empirical study on the four dimensions of knowledge hiding.
本研究揭示了组织中知识隐藏行为的相关文献，并强调了对知识隐藏产生原因更深入、更好的理解。近几十年来，知识隐藏在系统文献综述和组织管理中受到了大量研究，探讨其对个人和组织绩效等结果的影响；然而，知识隐藏受前因影响的机制以及引发知识隐藏的过程尚未得到积极验证。此外，以往大多数研究将知识隐藏分为单因素或三因素维度：回避隐藏、装傻和合理化隐藏。为解决这些问题和局限性，我们旨在进行实证研究，重点关注知识隐藏行为的四个新维度（装傻、回避隐藏、合理化隐藏和拖延）。与以往研究不同，我们提供了一个知识隐藏过程的研究框架，并验证了研究模型的重要性，借鉴社会交换理论和资源守恒理论来探索和验证知识隐藏的过程。具体而言，我们认为知识隐藏是由剥削型领导引起的，心理困扰在这两个变量之间的关系中起中介作用。此外，还验证了领导不文明行为的调节和中介作用。为了对研究模型进行实证检验，我们对中国中小企业的287名员工进行了调查。使用偏最小二乘结构方程模型（PLS-SEM）、SPSS PROCESS和AMOS软件进行统计分析。研究结果表明，剥削型领导对心理困扰和知识隐藏的四个维度均有正向影响。此外，心理困扰的中介作用和领导不文明行为的调节作用得到了验证，且在统计上具有显著性。基于这些发现，讨论了理论和实践意义、局限性以及未来研究方向。总体而言，最重要的贡献是扩展了研究领域，因为这是关于知识隐藏四个维度的第一项实证研究。
