How and when do employees hide knowledge from co-workers?

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ghulam Ali Arain ◽  
Alberto Dello Strologo ◽  
Amandeep Dhir

Purpose Drawing on social learning and social cognitive theories, this study aims to examine a multi-level moderated mediation model that tests the mediating effect of moral disengagement (MD: Level 1) between perceived organisational politics (POP: Level 1) and employee knowledge hiding from coworkers (EKHC: Level 1). The authors further propose that supervisor knowledge hiding from employees (SKHE: Level 2) moderates this mediation effect. Design/methodology/approach The authors obtained multi-sourced, multi-timed and multi-level data regarding 294 employees, working under 80 supervisors, from multiple organisations operating in Pakistan. The authors analysed these data using multi-level structural equation modelling via Mplus. Findings The results show that employee MD significantly mediates the direct relationship between POP and EKHC. The mediation effect is further positively moderated by SKHE, which amplifies the mediation effect. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical study that examines both EKHC and SKHE together in a single research model and provides a thorough understanding of why, how and when POP leads to EKHC.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdul Gaffar Khan ◽  
Yan Li ◽  
Zubair Akram ◽  
Umair Akram

Purpose Despite the recent extending research on knowledge hiding, there is still scant research on social stressor phenomena-related contextual antecedent factors and new cognitive mechanisms of knowledge hiding behaviors. To shed new light on this unexplored gap, this research explores the multi-level moderated mediation model that examines how and when negative gossip experienced by targets in the workplace induces their knowledge hiding from coworkers drawing from the lens of social learning and cognitive theories. More specifically, this study aims to evaluate the relationship between negative workplace gossip and knowledge hiding via moral disengagement, and this mediation effect is also moderated by team relational conflict as a novel boundary condition. Design/methodology/approach This study collected multi-wave 338 employees’ data from 68 teams of cross-sectional industries in China, which were nested within teams. The collected nested nature data were analyzed by employing multi-level analysis based on hierarchical linear modeling. Findings The results suggested that negative workplace gossip first triggers moral disengagement and thereby, leads to knowledge hiding. Furthermore, the direct positive association between negative workplace gossip and moral disengagement was strengthened by increasing intra-team relational conflict. In addition, the mediation effect of moral disengagement between negative workplace gossip and knowledge hiding was also strengthened through increasing intra-team relational conflict. Originality/value This study first empirically examines the multi-level model using a new underlying mechanism (moral disengagement) and team-level boundary condition (relational conflict) and enriches the current literature on knowledge management and workplace gossip. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings and future research lines are also discussed, which will facilitate practitioners and academicians to curb counterproductive knowledge behavior.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yıldırım Yılmaz ◽  
Elham Anasori

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of individuals' mindfulness and enjoyment of nature on environmentally responsible behavior (ERB) through mediating effect of sustainable attitude (SA).Design/methodology/approachData were collected from residents of Antalya through convenience sampling. Four hundred and five residents participated in the study. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the hypotheses.FindingsMindfulness was found effective for sustainable attitude of residents, but it has no significant direct effect to ERB. There is an indirect-only mediation effect of SA between mindfulness and ERB. Enjoyment of nature affects the sustainable attitude and ERB significantly and positively. The findings show that SA also offers a complementary mediation between enjoyment of nature and ERB.Research limitations/implicationsThe study closes the void by investigating the psychological aspects of individuals among residents of a tourist hub to create sustainable attitude, acts and responsible behavior toward environment. In particular, as the predicting role of mindfulness on ERB was not significant, further studies needed to investigate the effects of mindfulness on the environmental behavior and attitude.Practical implicationsDestination management organizations can consider more focusing on the environmentally responsible behavior of residents, which can play a pivotal role in attaining sustainable tourism development in destinations. By this regard, increasing the sustainable attitude and enjoyment of nature of residents through applying various campaigns would help policies and strategies aiming the conservation of the environment in the destination.Originality/valueSearching the impact of mindfulness on the SA and ERB and finding the indirect-only mediation effect of SA between mindfulness, ERB are novel contributions of this paper.


2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 799-812
Author(s):  
Hui-Hsien Hsieh ◽  
Hao-Hsin Hsu ◽  
Kuo-Yang Kao ◽  
Chih-Chieh Wang

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to understand how ethical leadership and coworker ethical behavior will influence employee unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB). In particular, the authors examine the mediating effect of moral disengagement on the relationship between ethical leadership and UPB and also investigate the moderating effect of coworker ethical behavior on the aforementioned effect.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 251 employee–coworker dyads from five organizations in Taiwan at two time points. Moderated mediation analysis was conducted to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe results show that moral disengagement mediates the relationship between ethical leadership and employee UPB. Moreover, the results show that coworker ethical behavior moderates the relationship between moral disengagement and employee UPB, as well as the mediated relationship between ethical leadership and employee UPB via moral disengagement. Specifically, both the moral disengagement–UPB relationship and the ethical leadership–moral disengagement–UPB relationship become weaker when coworker ethical behavior is high.Practical implicationsThe results highlight the importance of creating an ethical work environment to get everyone behaving ethically in the workplace, because nurturing an ethical atmosphere in organizations will be useful in reducing the occurrence of UPB even for those who have high levels of moral disengagement.Originality/valueThis study shows that coworkers matter morally as much as leaders, demonstrating the importance of social influence from coworkers in organizations.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 683-694 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prerna Garg ◽  
Richa Joshi

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review the existing state of research on “Halal” branding and to propose and empirically test the framework for understanding the purchase intention for “Halal” branded products in Indian context. Design/methodology/approach The research design is cross-sectional in nature; convenience sampling and snowball sampling is done, and completely filled 288 questionnaires are considered for testing the conceptual framework. Structural equation modeling is used to assess the fit of framework. The study has incorporated attitude as a mediating variable in relation to purchase intention for “Halal” branded products. The originality of the research is based on responses collected from the respondents in the form of online and offline questionnaires. Findings Findings of the direct and indirect effects in the study show that attitude has a full mediation effect on purchase intention, i.e. in the presence of attitude as a mediation variable the direct effect of subjective norm and religiosity is insignificant and the effect caused through attitude is significant. Practical implications In a country like India, which enjoys a sufficiently good percentage of Muslim population (14.2 per cent), an understanding of attitude provides enough scope for marketers to strategize techniques to reduce dissonance of non-availability of “Halal” brands. Originality/value Research is atypical, as it has focused on the mediation effects of attitude toward “Halal” branded products with the help of cosmetic range of products.


2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 639-650
Author(s):  
Estelle van Tonder ◽  
Sam Fullerton ◽  
Leon T. de Beer

Purpose This study aims to provide novel insight into cognitive and emotional factors contributing to green customer citizenship behaviours, as mediated by green attitudes in general and moderated by culture. Design/methodology/approach The investigation was guided by the “value attitude behaviour hierarchy” and green customer emotions, which served as a framework for understanding the mediating effect of attitude on the relationships between cognitive and emotional factors (green consumption values and emotional affinity towards nature) and customer citizenship advocacy and feedback behaviours. Data was obtained from respondents in the USA and South Korea. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modelling, bootstrapping and Wald tests were performed to conclude on the model and verify the moderating effect of culture on the indirect effects established. Findings In both countries, green consumption values and emotional affinity towards nature positively influence green attitudes and stimulate feedback behaviour. Green attitudes only predict advocacy in the USA. Culture moderates the majority of the indirect effects examined. Research limitations/implications The model presents a novel approach to stimulate green advocacy and feedback behaviours and may aid firms in closing the “green gap” and co-create value with customers. Firms could profit from customers advocating the benefits of green purchasing to other customers and providing feedback on interventions required that will convince reluctant customers to make a purchase. Originality/value This study offers a multicultural perspective on the connection between a novel set of cognitive and emotional factors and green customer citizenship advocacy and feedback behaviours that may directly and indirectly influence green purchasing, value co-creation and closing of the “green gap”.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Ng

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of perceived external prestige (PEP), perceived organizational support (POS), and organizational inducement (OI) on employee turnover intention (TI) and on the mediation effect of trust in organizations (TOs). Design/methodology/approach – In all, 243 self-administered questionnaires were collected from five service companies in Guangdong, China. The construct validity, the measurement model, and the hypothetical relationship between variables were tested by partial-least-squares structural equation modeling. Findings – The results demonstrate that OI, PEP, and POS tended to increase employees’ trust in their organization and hence to reduce their TI. Practical implications – The findings of this study have implications for managers’ design and implementation of effective human resource management strategies for adults in China. To deal with the serious problem of high employee turnover in China, organizations should implement not only appropriate human resource policy but also practices to improve corporate reputation. Originality/value – This paper extends the research on TI by investigating the impacts of PEP and the mediating effect of TOs in a Chinese context.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yunyun Yuan ◽  
Lifeng Yang ◽  
Xiangyang Cheng ◽  
Jia Wei

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships among knowledge attributes (complexity and implicitness), interpersonal distrust, knowledge hiding (KH) and team efficacy and second, to explore a new dimension of KH. Design/methodology/approach Data for this research were collected from more than 940 employees working in manufacturing, information technology (IT), finance and the purification industry. Structural equation modeling was used to test hypothesized relationships. Findings First, the research confirmed the existence of bullying hiding behaviors in the knowledge economy era based on “knowledge power.” Second, the findings suggest that knowledge attributes are an important predictor of KH behaviors in organizations. The findings implicate the mediating effect of interpersonal distrust and the moderating role of team efficacy, while team efficacy negatively moderated the relationships between interpersonal distrust with evasive hiding and playing dumb, but positively moderated the relationship between interpersonal distrust with rationalized hiding and bullying hiding. Originality/value This is the first study to propose bullying hiding, a behavior that has emerged in organizational knowledge transfer, and it is more detrimental to knowledge sharing than other KH behaviors. The results of research on the different regulating effects of team efficacy on KH behaviors enrich the boundary conditions of KH research.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Indirah Indibara ◽  
Sanjeev Varshney

Purpose This paper aims to examine the effect of social cynicism on consumer cynicism. The negative inferred motive is tested as a mediator between social cynicism and consumer cynicism; whereas, negative affectivity is tested as a moderator between social cynicism and negative inferred motive. Design/methodology/approach The study was carried out in India using a mixed-method approach. In the first stage, a survey was conducted to test the moderated mediation model, followed by in-depth interviews in the second stage. The survey was analysed using structural equation modelling, while themes were generated from the data collected through interviews. Findings The study established the effect of social cynicism on consumer cynicism. Negative inferred motive mediated the relationship between social cynicism and consumer cynicism. Negative affectivity moderated the influence of social cynicism on negative inferred motive. Research limitations/implications With rising anti-consumption behaviours, it is imperative to understand why consumers turn cynical towards marketers. The study indicates that consumer cynicism is influenced by previous experiences of the consumer with the society and is not merely a reaction to arm-twisting by firms. As social cynicism cannot be changed drastically, understanding how it impacts consumer cynicism would help a firm handle its marketing efforts better. Originality/value The study empirically validates the relationship between social cynicism and consumer cynicism. The mediating effect of negative inferred motive on consumer cynicism was also validated. The study is also the first to point out the moderating role of negative affectivity on the relationship between social cynicism and negative inferred motive.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arslan Ayub ◽  
Tahira Ajmal ◽  
Shahid Iqbal ◽  
Sidra Ghazanfar ◽  
Mahwish Anwaar ◽  
...  

Purpose Despite burgeoning interest in knowledge hiding (KH), there are still significant gaps in the understanding of the boundary conditions under which KH is more or less likely to occur. To address this research gap, the researchers examined abusive supervision as an interpersonal antecedent of KH. In addition, this paper aims to investigate the moderating roles of negative reciprocity beliefs (NRB) and moral disengagement (MD) in the relationship between abusive supervision and KH. Design/methodology/approach Two-wave data using a non-experimental face-to-face method was collected from 257 service employees in Pakistan, which supported the hypothesized model. Considering minimum sample size requirements (i.e. n = 208) in partial least squares structural equation modeling, the researchers analyzed a two-stage approach to test the measurement model and the structural model. Findings The study found that abusive supervision was positively related to evasive hiding and playing dumb but not associated with rationalized hiding. Further, the results confirm the moderating roles of NRB and MD. The positive relationships between abusive supervision and evasive hiding and playing dumb are intensified at high levels of NRB and MD. Originality/value Given the complicated nature of KH, this is one of the few efforts that outstretch the boundary conditions of KH.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pang Kiam Lim ◽  
Kian Yeik Koay ◽  
Wei Ying Chong

PurposeCyberloafing (employees' non-work-related online activities at work) has become a common workplace problem for many organizations. Research investigating the underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions under which abusive supervision influences cyberloafing remains largely underdeveloped. Drawing from social exchange theory and conservation of resources theory, we developed a moderated-mediation model in which emotional exhaustion was theorized as a unique mechanism underlining why employees are more likely to engage in cyberloafing under the supervision of abusive leaders. In addition, we proposed that organizational commitment to be a relevant boundary condition to influence such a relationship.Design/methodology/approachWe collected 255 data from employees working in public listed companies in Malaysia and used partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze the data.FindingsThe results showed that the influence of abusive supervision on cyberloafing through emotional exhaustion is only significant when organizational commitment is low.Originality/valueThis study constructed a moderated-mediation model by introducing the potential mediating effect of emotional exhaustion and the moderating effect of organizational commitment to reveal the mechanism through which abusive supervision related to cyberloafing.


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