Organizational rewards and knowledge hiding: task attributes as contingencies
ISSN: 0025-1747
Article publication date: 2 February 2021
Issue publication date: 6 September 2021
Abstract
Purpose
Although scholars have provided sufficient empirical evidence on the effectiveness of organizational rewards in managing knowledge sharing, little attention has been paid to the relationship between organizational rewards and knowledge hiding. Drawing on self-determination theory (SDT), this study aims to investigate the effects of financial and nonfinancial rewards on employees' knowledge-hiding behavior as well as the moderating role of task attributes.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper examines the hypotheses by conducting a time-lagged survey from a sample of 186 knowledge workers in Chinese high-tech firms.
Findings
The findings of this study reveal that financial rewards are positively associated with knowledge hiding, whereas nonfinancial rewards have a negative effect on knowledge. Moreover, task interdependence significantly moderates the effects of organizational rewards on employees' knowledge-hiding behavior. In addition, the interaction between nonfinancial rewards and task complexity is negatively related to knowledge hiding.
Originality/value
This study is one of the first to investigate the effects of financial rewards and nonfinancial rewards on employees' knowledge-hiding behavior, as well as the moderating roles of task interdependence and task complexity.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The work described in this article is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No. 71902107), Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (Project No. ZR2017BG008) and the Social Science Planning Project of Shandong Province (Project No. 19DGLJ11).
Citation
Zhang, Z. and Min, M. (2021), "Organizational rewards and knowledge hiding: task attributes as contingencies", Management Decision, Vol. 59 No. 10, pp. 2385-2404. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-02-2020-0150
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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