What is bullying hiding? Exploring antecedents and potential dimension of knowledge hiding

Abstract

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.

Citation

Yuan, Y., Yang, L., Cheng, X. and Wei, J. (2021), "What is bullying hiding? Exploring antecedents and potential dimension of knowledge hiding", Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 25 No. 5, pp. 1146-1169. https://doi.org/10.1108/JKM-04-2020-0256