The double-edged effects of perceived knowledge hiding: empirical evidence from the sales context

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yonggui Wang ◽  
Myat Su Han ◽  
Diandian Xiang ◽  
Daniel Peter Hampson

PurposeDespite managers’ investments in facilitating knowledge sharing, knowledge hiding remains prevalent in organizations. Existing studies shed light on the antecedents and consequences of knowledge hiding from the hider’s perspective. This study, the first, aims to examine the consequences of perceived knowledge hiding on the performance of knowledge seekers individually and organizations more broadly.Design/methodology/approachThe authors develop a theoretical framework, drawing on self-determination theory (SDT) and social exchange theory (SET). The framework is tested empirically via hierarchical regression analyses, using survey data collected from salespersons (n= 296) and supervisors (n= 83) employed by one of the largest distribution and market expansion companies in Myanmar.FindingsConsistent with SDT, the results show that perceived knowledge hiding exerts a positive effect on knowledge seekers’ individual sales performance, although this relationship is moderated by social interaction. Conversely, the results show a negative relationship between perceived knowledge hiding and team viability, which is moderated by reward structure, consistent with SET.Research limitations/implicationsThe results have several strategic implications, including on the type of reward structures (i.e. individual vs team-based) that most effectively mitigate the negative consequences of perceived knowledge hiding.Originality/valueThis is the first empirical study of the consequences of perceived knowledge hiding. This model integrates two theoretical perspectives which highlight positive and negative consequences of perceived knowledge hiding.

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 971-982 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yonggui Wang ◽  
Daniel Peter Hampson ◽  
Myat Su Han

Purpose This study aims to examine the positive and negative consequences of relationship closeness between salespersons and their business customers in a B2B sales context: sales performance and salesperson passive opportunism. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on the social exchange theory, the authors develop a conceptual model of positive and negative consequences of relationship closeness. The authors empirically test the model using matched survey data from 269 salesperson-sales supervisor dyads and individual sales performance ratings from one of the largest distribution and market expansion companies in Myanmar. Findings Results provide evidence of positive (i.e. sales performance) and negative (i.e. salesperson passive opportunism) consequences of salesperson’s perceived relationship closeness. These relationships are, however, contingent on organization-level and employee-level factors. High extent of supervision enhances the effects of salesperson’s perceived relationship closeness on sales performance but attenuates its influence on salesperson passive opportunism. The effect of salesperson’s perceived relationship closeness on salesperson’s passive opportunism is stronger for salespersons with a promotion (vs prevention) focus. Research limitations/implications The results offer guidelines to firms seeking to optimize the efficacy of close relationships between their salespersons and customers. For example, higher levels of supervision could increase the likelihood of positive outcomes of relationship closeness while minimizing its negative consequences. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to demonstrate not only the benefits of relationship closeness between salespersons and customers but also its dark side: the relationship closeness paradox.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Haiqing Shi ◽  
Taiwen Feng ◽  
Zhiyi Li

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore the inverted U-shaped relationship between green customer integration (GCI) and opportunistic behavior, as well as the moderating effects of contractual control and relational norms.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted hierarchical regression analysis using two-waved data from 206 Chinese manufacturing firms to test hypotheses.FindingsThe authors found that GCI has an inverted U-shaped effect on opportunistic behavior. Furthermore, both contractual control and relational norms negatively moderate the inverted U-shaped relationship between GCI and opportunistic behavior.Originality/valueThis study uncovers an inverted U-shaped link between GCI and opportunistic behavior by combining transaction cost economics and social exchange theory. Furthermore, this study reveals contractual control and relational norms can be deemed as two boundary conditions affecting the inverted U-shaped GCI–opportunistic behavior relationship. This study also offers managerial implications for firms curbing opportunistic behavior that may result from GCI.


2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 30-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Parijat Lanke

Purpose This paper intends to put forward the role of interpersonal (in)justice among co-workers and their individual expertise as important factors contributing to knowledge hiding behavior. The paper is written with an intent to explain a conceptual model for practitioners’ benefit. The work is novel and covers the latest construct in the field of knowledge management and human resource management. Design/methodology/approach A conceptual framework is elaborated with a brief explanation of the theory that helps explain it. The framework although being novel in itself, the explanation has been drawn from existing literature. Findings If the co-workers do not treat each other with dignity and respect, it hampers their relationship. This in turn makes them hide knowledge from each other and at the same time if one of them holds an expertise power over the other, this behavior would be more enhanced. The whole relationship could be explained using social exchange theory. This holds implications for managers, especially when knowledge management is of paramount importance to a company for its sustenance. Practical implications This work provides new insights into knowledge hiding behavior by employees. Certain ways to reduce this behavior are proposed. Originality/value This paper is the one of the few written with an intent to bring knowledge hiding and its causes, to executives, in an easy to digest form. The concept is also newly introduced and these factors have not yet been brought up by any other researcher in the field.


2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (7/8) ◽  
pp. 617-630
Author(s):  
Xiaofeng Xu ◽  
Ho Kwong Kwan ◽  
Miaomiao Li

PurposeDrawing on social exchange theory and a cultural perspective, this study examines the relationship between workplace ostracism and job engagement by focusing on the mediating role of felt obligation and the moderating role of collectivism.Design/methodology/approachA two-wave survey was conducted over four months in a private service business in China. The participants comprised 108 Chinese employees.FindingsThe results indicate that workplace ostracism has a negative relationship with job engagement through a reduced sense of felt obligation. Collectivism strengthens the main effect of workplace ostracism on felt obligation and its indirect effect on job engagement via felt obligation.Research limitations/implicationsThis study contributes to understanding of the internal mechanism of the workplace ostracism–job engagement model by identifying the mediating role of felt obligation. It also emphasizes that collectivist cultures can enhance the effects of workplace ostracism. However, the generalizability of our findings may be limited due to this cultural factor.Practical implicationsOur findings show that workplace ostracism plays a significant role in reducing job engagement. Therefore, it is essential to reduce the incidence of ostracism in the workplace.Originality/valueBy addressing the previously unexplored mechanism that mediates the relationship between workplace ostracism and job engagement, this study provides new directions for research on workplace ostracism and job engagement.


2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 794-806 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Khalid ◽  
Sajid Bashir ◽  
Abdul Karim Khan ◽  
Nida Abbas

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between abusive supervision and knowledge hiding behaviors. The authors further investigate how abusive supervision is linked with knowledge hiding behaviors, and why some subordinates, unlike others, tend to engage in more knowledge hiding behaviors in response to abusive supervision. The authors propose that interpersonal justice mediates the relationship between abusive supervision and knowledge hiding behaviors, and that Islamic work ethics (IWE) weaken the hypothesized relationship between abusive supervision and knowledge hiding behaviors. Design/methodology/approach The data were gathered in three time lags from 224 respondents working in the hospitality industry of Pakistan. Findings The results reveal that the abusive supervision is positively associated with a knowledge hiding behaviors. This relationship is mediated by perceptions of interpersonal justice, but the IWE moderated this relationship such that in the presence of high levels of IWE, the impact of abusive supervision on knowledge hiding behaviors is weak. Practical implications Employees’ values and beliefs can serve as a safeguard against reactions to abusive supervision. The impact of abusive supervision on employees’ behaviors may be minimized by building their ethical values around Islamic principles. Originality/value To the best of the knowledge, this is the first study to examine the relationship between abusive supervision and knowledge hiding behaviors. The authors integrate displaced aggression and social exchange theory with the IWE literature to offer new insights in-to the mechanisms and boundary conditions associated with the relationship between abusive supervision and knowledge hiding behaviors.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 445-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Artur Swierczek

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the link between manufacturer relational embeddedness, manufacturer influence and supplier-customer relational embeddedness and their resulting impact on the network rent.Design/methodology/approachLeveraging the theoretical lens of social exchange theory and the relational view and utilizing the survey data derived from the transitional triadic supply chains, the authors used multiple regression analysis and the partial least squares (PLS) path model. The regression analysis with interaction effects is used to indicate the network rent, while the PLS path model is applied to investigate the link between manufacturer relational embeddedness, manufacturer influence and supplier-customer relational embeddedness and their subsequent impact on the network rent.FindingsThe authors empirically establish that manufacturer relational embeddedness, as a higher-order factor, can comprise both upstream and downstream relational embeddedness. The research also demonstrates that manufacturer relational embeddedness significantly contributes to the manufacturer’s eagerness to form a direct link between the supplier and the customer, and the manufacturers report a significant ability to affect this relationship. Likewise, the study shows that supplier-customer relational embeddedness significantly and positively affects the network rent. In addition, the study implies that supplier-customer relational embeddedness is a mediator between manufacturer influence and the network rent, while manufacturer influence is a suppressor variable, which increases the negative relationship between manufacturer relational embeddedness and supplier-customer relational embeddedness.Research limitations/implicationsThe research makes three key contributions. First, this study, as one of very few, simultaneously embraces context, intervention, mechanism and outcome, while investigating the role of manufacturer (its relational embeddedness and influence) in promoting supplier-customer relational embeddedness, and its resulting effect on the network rent. Further on, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirically based study that demonstrates to what extent the manufacturer is capable of fostering supplier-customer relational embeddedness, thus favoring the transposition from the intransitive into the transitive triadic supply chains. Finally, to date, the concept of network rent has been mostly conceptualized as the theoretical construct with no empirical evidence. This research offers guidance for manufacturers in managing the relationships between the supplier and the customer to yield the highest network rent.Originality/valueThis study provides a novel approach to investigating the role of manufacturer and relational embeddedness in yielding the network rent in the transitional triadic supply chains.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nawar N. Chaker ◽  
Edward L. Nowlin ◽  
Doug Walker ◽  
Nwamaka A. Anaza

Purpose Salespeople frequently face the predicament of wanting to protect their market knowledge from coworkers while not appearing recalcitrant. Considering the choice of disclosing information or refusing to disclose, they may choose a third option: appearing to share knowledge while concealing substantive information, which this study calls evasive knowledge hiding. This study surmises that the consequences of these choices impact perceptions of customer outcomes. Using social exchange theory, the purpose of this article is to examine the internal relational antecedents and perceptions of external customer outcomes of evasive knowledge hiding, as well as the moderating effects of pushover manager and environmental dynamism. Design/methodology/approach A moderated mediation model was used to analyze survey data from 234 business-to-business salespeople. Findings Internal competition and coworkers’ past opportunistic behavior increase evasive knowledge hiding. These effects are attenuated if the manager is not a pushover. Evasive knowledge hiding decreases perceptions of external customer outcomes, particularly at low levels of environmental dynamism. Research limitations/implications Data was collected from salespeople, which presents a look from perpetrators themselves. While directly observing salespeople was the goal, sourcing and matching customer and manager data would only strengthen the results. Practical implications Salespeople evasively hide their knowledge if it is in their best interest, which may unwittingly hurt perceptions of customer outcomes. Originality/value This study formally introduces salesperson evasive knowledge hiding into the marketing and sales literature. The research highlights the dark side of social exchange theory by demonstrating how internal coworker relationships affect perceptions of external customer relationships via evasive knowledge hiding. This study also introduces pushover manager as an enabling moderating variable.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir A. Abdulmuhsin ◽  
Rabee Ali Zaker ◽  
Muhammad Mujtaba Asad

Purpose Drawing on knowledge-based view, social exchange theory and leader-member exchange, this study examines how exploitative leadership (EL) influences knowledge management (KM), its processes, and further investigates the moderating role of organisational citizenship behaviours (OCB) on the relationship between EL and KM. Design/methodology/approach Using a quantitative approach, survey data were collected from 356 faculty members in Iraqi public universities, and the direct and moderating relationships were assessed through Hierarchical regression by PROCESS v.3.3 macros in SPSS. Findings The study found a significant negative impact of EL on KM, including its processes, especially on knowledge utilisation. The assessment also revealed that OCB has a significant moderating impact on EL, particularly its effect on knowledge creation. Practical implications The empirical insights of the study are valuable and precious for policymakers, managers and academics in education sectors of developing countries, to enrich their managerial and scientific performance through addressing EL behaviours while considering the moderating effect of OCB. Originality/value The relevance of the study stems from the scarcity of research on EL, while studies on the negative behaviours of leaders as a predictor of KM process failures are significantly limited. Additionally, studies on the moderating impact of OCB on the linkage between EL and KM processes remain limited. This study is one of the earliest studies that investigate these inter-relationships amongst EL, OCB and KM processes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 213-225
Author(s):  
Dongqing Zhu ◽  
Zhiying Zhang ◽  
Chunzhen Wang

PurposeIt is generally believed that supervisors would deter employee unethical behavior. However, drawing from social exchange theory and the theory of moral disengagement, we posit that supervisors are more willing to tolerate employee unethical behavior through moral disengagement when the perpetrator is a high performing employee.Design/methodology/approachStudy 1, which measured employee unethical behavior in a specific group of doctors through a time-lagged survey, and Study 2, which manipulated employee unethical behavior with a diverse sample by a vignette-based experiment, provided convergent support for our hypothesized 1st-stage moderated mediation model. Hierarchical regression, bootstrapping and ANOVA are used to test our hypotheses.FindingsAlthough supervisors generally showed a low social acceptance of an employee who engaged in unethical behavior, they were more likely to socially accept the perpetrator through moral disengagement when the employee was a high rather than a low performer.Practical implicationsGiven that supervisor's tolerance of employee unethical behavior may be more dangerous than employee unethical behavior itself, organizations should set up an ethics committee to handle top managers' unethical behavior and consider morality equally important with performance in management practice.Originality/valueThe current research extends research on the interpersonal consequences of employee unethical behavior, explains how moral disengagement promotes social acceptance and identifies the moderating effect of job performance in the process.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Athar Nadeem ◽  
Zhiying Liu ◽  
Usman Ghani ◽  
Amna Younis ◽  
Yi Xu

PurposeThis study, based on social exchange theory, aims to explore knowledge hiding behavior in relation to shared goals of individuals working in teams and trust (cognitive-based trust and affective-based trust) as a boundary condition on shared goals and knowledge hiding relationship.Design/methodology/approachA total sample of 270 reliable questionnaires are collected from university students in China. SPSS and AMOS are employed for the data analysis of the proposed model.FindingsFindings of the study have indicated that shared goals are negatively associated with knowledge hiding behavior. Furthermore, trust (cognitive-based trust and affective-based trust) moderates the relationship between shared goals and knowledge hiding behavior.Practical implicationsThis study has provided empirical proof and in-depth understanding and recommendations for supervisors and administrative authorities to form the culture of groups/teams with shared goals to reduce the undesirable individual behaviors.Originality/valueThis study, among the first empirical studies investigating the relationship between shared goals and knowledge hiding behavior, trust as a moderator, enriches the existing academic literature of and provides valuable insight into the research on knowledge hiding and knowledge management.


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