Understanding knowledge hiding in organizations Connelly, Catherine E.; Černe, Matej; Dysvik, Anders ...
Journal of organizational behavior,
September 2019, Letnik:
40, Številka:
7
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Summary
In our introduction to this special issue on understanding knowledge hiding in organizations, we provide some context to how and why this phenomenon should be studied. We then describe the ...five articles that comprise the special issue, and we note some common themes and divergences in this collection. Our introduction concludes with some suggestions for future research on knowledge hiding in organizations.
Purpose
The belief that knowledge actually expands when it is shared has been deeply rooted in the mainstream knowledge management literature. Although many organizations and managers expect ...employees to share their knowledge with their colleagues, this does not always occur. This study aims to use the conservation of resources theory to explain why employees who experience greater time pressure are more likely to engage in knowledge hiding; it further considers how this behavior may be moderated by these employees’ prosocial motivation and perspective taking.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses quantitative multi-study research design as a combination of two-wave field study among 313 employees at an insurance company and a lab experimental study.
Findings
In the field study (Study 1), the authors find that perceived time pressure is positively related to knowledge hiding. Furthermore, this relationship is moderated by prosocial motivation: employees who perceive greater time pressure hide knowledge only when they are low in prosocial motivation. An experiment (Study 2) replicates these findings, and finds that perspective taking mediates the moderating effect of prosocial motivation on the relationship between time pressure and knowledge hiding.
Research limitations/implications
Despite its many contributions, the present research is also not without limitations. Study 1 was a cross-lagged sectional field study with self-reported data (although the two-wave design does help alleviate common-method-bias concerns). Causality concerns were further alleviated by using additional experimental study.
Practical implications
The paper highlights important reasons why people hide knowledge at work (because of experienced time pressure) as well as identifies two interlinked potential remedies (prosocial motivation and perspective taking) to reduce knowledge hiding.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to expanding nomological network of knowledge hiding construct by extending the set of known antecedents and contingencies.
Research has begun to document the negative organizational consequences of knowledge hiding, or the intentional attempt to conceal knowledge, among employees. However, different knowledge hiding ...behaviours exist, and we explore whether some types of knowledge hiding are more harmful than others. Although theory would suggest that knowledge hiders rationalize their behaviours and fail to anticipate the negative consequences of their behaviours, we found that they did anticipate harmed relationships and retaliation. In addition, targets of knowledge hiding did not always construe the behaviour as harmful or as necessitating retaliation. Overall, our research suggests that not all knowledge hiding is equally harmful. Some types of knowledge hiding may actually enhance the relationships between colleagues and might break the cycle of knowledge hiding in organizations.
Knowledge hiding in organizations Connelly, Catherine E.; Zweig, David; Webster, Jane ...
Journal of organizational behavior,
January 2012, Letnik:
33, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Despite the efforts to enhance knowledge transfer in organizations, success has been elusive. It is becoming clear that in many instances employees are unwilling to share their knowledge even when ...organizational practices are designed to facilitate transfer. Consequently, this paper develops and investigates a novel construct, knowledge hiding. We establish that knowledge hiding exists, we distinguish knowledge hiding from related concepts (knowledge hoarding and knowledge sharing), and we develop a multidimensional measure of this construct. We also identify several predictors of knowledge hiding in organizations. The results of three studies, using different methods, suggest that knowledge hiding is comprised of three related factors: evasive hiding, rationalized hiding, and playing dumb. Each of these hiding behaviors is predicted by distrust, yet each also has a different set of interpersonal and organizational predictors. We draw implications for future research on knowledge management.
In order to motivate individuals to share their knowledge in online communities, the use of extrinsic rewards and goals is a typical approach. However, extrinsic motivation may have unintended ...consequences. Although past studies have examined the direct effect of extrinsic motivation on intrinsic motivation, no research to date has investigated how extrinsic motivation moderates the impact of intrinsic motivation on knowledge sharing, or how the effect of extrinsic motivation on intrinsic motivation is contingent upon whether a member is active or not. Drawing on attribution theory and theory of planned behavior, the study was conducted with data collected from a large social Q&A site consisting of multiple online communities with millions of registered users; the data were analyzed with moderated regression and structural equation modeling. Results show that the effect of enjoyment in helping others on attitude toward knowledge sharing is undermined by virtual organizational rewards, while the effect of knowledge self-efficacy on attitude toward knowledge sharing is undermined by reciprocity. The results also show that the effect of virtual organizational rewards on enjoyment in helping others is contingent upon whether members are active or not. Specifically, for active members, virtual organizational rewards undermine enjoyment in helping others; for inactive members, however, virtual organizational rewards increase enjoyment in helping others. These findings enrich the research on unintended consequences of extrinsic motivation specifically, and the theory of motivation in general. Additionally, these findings provide practical insights on how and when to use extrinsic rewards/goals to motivate individuals to share knowledge in social Q&A sites.
Despite legislation on diversity in the workplace, people with disabilities still do not experience the same access to work opportunities as do their counterparts without disabilities. Many employers ...have been shown to harbor sincere yet ill-founded views about the work-related abilities of people with disabilities; these negative views are often a result of interrelated concerns that permeate the entire employment cycle. In this paper, we provide evidence-based responses to 11 specific concerns that employers have about people with disabilities, from pre-employment and entry experiences to the final dissolution of the employment relationship. At each stage of the employment cycle, we summarize and evaluate the relevant empirical evidence and provide recommendations for organizations committed to creating more effective, equitable, and inclusive workplaces for all individuals. We also suggest avenues for future research.
End users are said to be "the weakest link" in information systems (IS) security management in the workplace. They often knowingly engage in certain insecure uses of IS and violate security policies ...without malicious intentions. Few studies, however, have examined end user motivation to engage in such behavior. To fill this research gap, in the present study we propose and test empirically a nonmalicious security violation (NMSV) model with data from a survey of end users at work. The results suggest that utilitarian outcomes (relative advantage for job performance, perceived security risk), normative outcomes (workgroup norms), and self-identity outcomes (perceived identity match) are key determinants of end user intentions to engage in NMSVs. In contrast, the influences of attitudes toward security policy and perceived sanctions are not significant. This study makes several significant contributions to research on security-related behavior by (1) highlighting the importance of job performance goals and security risk perceptions on shaping user attitudes, (2) demonstrating the effect of workgroup norms on both user attitudes and behavioral intentions, (3) introducing and testing the effect of perceived identity match on user attitudes and behavioral intentions, and (4) identifying nonlinear relationships between constructs. This study also informs security management practices on the importance of linking security and business objectives, obtaining user buy-in of security measures, and cultivating a culture of secure behavior at local workgroup levels in organizations.
Purpose Although organizations expect employees to share knowledge with each other, knowledge hiding has been documented among coworker dyads. This paper aims to draw on social exchange theory to ...examine if and why knowledge hiding also occurs in teams.
Design/methodology/approach Two studies, using experimental (115 student participants on 29 teams) and field (309 employees on 92 teams) data, explore the influence of leader-member exchange (LMX) on knowledge hiding in teams, as well as the moderating role of collective (team-level) prosocial motivation.
Findings The results of experimental Study 1 showed that collective prosocial motivation and LMX reduce knowledge hiding in teams. Field Study 2 further examined LMX, through its distinctive economic and social facets, and revealed the interaction effect of team prosocial motivation and social LMX on knowledge hiding.
Originality/value This study complements existing research on knowledge hiding by focusing specifically on the incidence of this phenomenon among members of the same team. This paper presents a multi-level model that explores collective prosocial motivation as a cross-level predictor of knowledge hiding in teams, and examines economic LMX and social LMX as two facets of LMX.
Introduction
Over 50% of medical students worldwide report experiencing mistreatment and abuse during their clinical education, yet only a small proportion of students report these concerns to ...administration. It is unknown how medical students make sense of their experiences of mistreatment and come to decide whether to formally report these experiences. Improved understanding of this phenomenon will facilitate changes at the administrative and institutional levels to better support students.
Methods
Using Constructivist Grounded Theory, we interviewed 19 current and former medical students from one institution about their experiences with mistreatment and reporting. Data were analysed in an iterative fashion, using focused and theoretical forms of coding.
Results
The decision of whether to report mistreatment is only one phase in the process that students report experiencing when encountering mistreatment. This process can be understood as a journey consisting of five phases: Situating, Experiencing and Appraising, Reacting, Deciding and Moving Forward. Students move through these phases as they come to understand their position as medical learners and their ability to trust and be safe within this institution. Each experience of mistreatment causes students to react to what has happened to them, decide if they will share their experiences and reach out for support. They choose if they are going to report the mistreatment, at what cost and for what outcomes. Students continue through their training while incorporating their experiences into their understanding of the culture in which they are learning and continually resituating themselves within the institution.
Discussion
Student perceptions of trust or mistrust in their educational institution are highly influential when it comes to reporting mistreatment. Interventions designed to support students and decrease exposure to mistreatment may be best focused on increasing organisational trust between students and the medical school.
Given that only a small proportion of medical students who have experienced mistreatment report it, @BellDrAmanda and @MGVanstone describe how they decide.
In our introduction to this special issue on the gig economy, we provide some context to how and why this phenomenon should be studied, with a particular emphasis on Human Resource Management. We ...then describe the four articles that comprise the special issue, and we note some common themes. Our introduction concludes with some suggestions for future research on the gig economy.
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