Ashley Burrowes and Marie Persson
This study reports the findings of a survey of Swedish auditors seeking opinions on the conceptual underpinnings of the long established private sector management audit in that…
Abstract
This study reports the findings of a survey of Swedish auditors seeking opinions on the conceptual underpinnings of the long established private sector management audit in that country. The authors give the background to the historical calls for accountability and stewardship and draw parallels with calls for accountability by the large modern corporations which emanate from the agency contracts that management functions under. The findings conclude that the Swedish profession needs a theoretical base for its continued conduct of this audit function. The UK and US professions have taken tentative steps towards expanding the traditional financial audit but the rallying calls of visionaries seem as yet to be unheeded.
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AT the time of writing (Autumn 1966), those who are concerned with technical college libraries stand at a very interesting stage in the development of those services. I was…
Abstract
AT the time of writing (Autumn 1966), those who are concerned with technical college libraries stand at a very interesting stage in the development of those services. I was reminded of this fact the other day when I was lunching with one of the College Principals who had been concerned with the ATI Memorandum on College Libraries in 1937. (That, as you may know, was a very forward‐looking document and outlined objectives, not all of which have yet been attained.)
Ann-Louise Holten, Gregory Robert Hancock, Roger Persson, Åse Marie Hansen and Annie Høgh
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether and how knowledge hoarding, functions as antecedent and consequent of work related negative acts, as a measure of bullying. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether and how knowledge hoarding, functions as antecedent and consequent of work related negative acts, as a measure of bullying. The authors investigate the relation as mediated by trust and justice.
Design/methodology/approach
Data stem from a longitudinal study in which questionnaire responses were collected twice from 1,650 employees in 52 workplaces. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the two models. Design-based corrections were made to accommodate the multi-level structure of data.
Findings
The analyses showed that knowledge hoarding was both an antecedent and a consequent of negative acts. First, over time, knowledge hoarding was indirectly related to negative acts mediated by trust and justice. Second, negative acts were both directly and indirectly related to knowledge hoarding over time. The study thus points to the existence of a vicious circle of negative acts, psychological states of trust and justice, and knowledge hoarding behaviours, which presumably will affect both individual and organizational outcomes negatively.
Research limitations/implications
The use of already collected, self-report data, single-item measures, and the two-year time lag could pose potential limitations to the study.
Practical implications
Preventive and repair actions could potentially impact both negative acts and knowledge hoarding by focusing on increasing the social exchange quality at work unit level.
Originality/value
This paper combines two strands of research, that of bullying at work and that of knowledge management, within which research on knowledge hoarding has been an under-researched area.
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Ulrik Wagner, H. Thomas R. Persson and Marie Overbye
The purpose of this paper is to investigate firms’ reasons and motives for becoming sponsors and how they benefit from this networking engagement by exploring sponsorship networks…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate firms’ reasons and motives for becoming sponsors and how they benefit from this networking engagement by exploring sponsorship networks associated with two Danish team sport clubs – a Premier League football club and a second-division handball club.
Design/methodology/approach
Two online surveys were conducted with firms associated with the networks during the Autumn and Winter of 2013/2014 (n=116). The questionnaire was theoretically anchored in the existing sponsorship literature, business network research, and social capital theory.
Findings
The results show that business logics were the dominating reasons for joining the network. A large proportion of the respondents reported having increased their number of business (32 percent) and social (26 percent) relations with other network members after joining the network. Furthermore, 37 percent of the respondents reported having made business agreements with companies external to the network via network contacts, which supports ideas of bridging social capital. More than half the respondents (59 percent) preferred doing business with network members rather than with non-members.
Originality/value
By investigating a local and regional sport club context, the paper adds to our knowledge about sponsorship networks. It emphasizes the potential importance of team sport clubs for the business landscape, thus maintaining that sport clubs fulfill an important role for local communities beyond being mere entertainment industries.
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Chitresh Kumar, Neha Garg, Asim Talukdar and Anirban Ganguly
This paper aims to study the adverse effects of performance motivation and goal setting. The study investigates the unethical behavior of knowledge hiding that requires moral…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to study the adverse effects of performance motivation and goal setting. The study investigates the unethical behavior of knowledge hiding that requires moral disengagement. The research further investigates the influence of performance motivation on knowledge hiding, along with investigating the mediating effect of moral disengagement.
Design/methodology/approach
Structural equation modeling has been adopted to understand the relationships. Data was collected from 288 students from Indian higher education institutions to understand how social cognitive aspects of performance influenced knowledge hiding.
Findings
The findings revealed that students hide knowledge from peers and rationalize the hiding process through social cognition of moral disengagement to justify the hiding process. It was further observed that performance motivation has a stronger relationship with rationalized knowledge hiding as compared to evasive knowledge hiding or playing dumb.
Research limitations/implications
By exploring the potential unintended yet detrimental consequences of performance motivation, this study adds to the scant literature on the drawbacks of ambitious goal setting. It also advances the performance motivation and knowledge hiding literature by exploring these constructs through the behavioral ethics lens of moral disengagement.
Practical implications
Awareness about the ill-effects of performance motivation of students and understanding the role of moral disengagement in the same will help administrators and policymakers to cautiously promote performance-driven culture within academia as well as in designing effective interventions for curbing the same.
Originality/value
The current study advances the extant literature on the negative side of ambitious goal setting and provides new insights into how it can encourage moral disengagement and knowledge-hiding behavior. Further, academic research on moral disengagement among students has been scarce. This study thus investigates how moral disengagement among students can promote detrimental behavior(s) of knowledge hiding. The study is one of the early studies to uncover moral disengagement as an antecedent to knowledge hiding.
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Ansar Javed, Khawaja Fawad Latif, Umar Farooq Sahibzada and Nadia Aslam
Based on the knowledge-based view (KBV) and theory of planned behavior (TPB), the study aims to investigate the impact of sustainable leadership (SL) on knowledge management…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on the knowledge-based view (KBV) and theory of planned behavior (TPB), the study aims to investigate the impact of sustainable leadership (SL) on knowledge management processes (KMPs) and the direct influence of KMPs on sustainable competitive advantage (SCA). Additionally, it aims to explore the mediating role of knowledge worker social responsibility (KWSR) in the relationship between KMPs and SCA. Furthermore, this study aims to evaluate the moderating effect of knowledge sabotage behavior (KSB) on the relationship between KMPs and KWSR.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample frame consisted of 354 academic and administrative workers from Pakistan’s higher education institutions. The hypothesized relationships were tested using the PLS-SEM approach.
Findings
The study found a significant positive effect of SL on KMPs as well as KMPs on SCA. Partial mediation of knowledge worker social responsibility between knowledge management processes and sustainable competitive advantage was confirmed. Furthermore, our findings indicate the negative moderating effect of knowledge sabotage behavior on the relationship between KMPs and KWSR.
Practical implications
The outcomes of this research strengthen the universities’ experience of Leadership and recommend how academics and administrators of higher education institutes can value knowledge management, which improves competitive advantage.
Originality/value
The originality of the study lies in elucidating the direct relationship of SL & KMPs with the moderating role of KSB in the link between KMPs and KWSR and the mediating effect of KWSR on the relationship between KMPs and SCA in the setting of higher education institutions (HEIs) in Pakistan. Furthermore, this study provides in-depth insights into the existing body of knowledge on the KBV and TPB about SL, KMPs, and SCA.
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Arathi Krishna, Devi Soumyaja and Joshy Joseph
A workplace bullying dynamic involving multiple individuals targeting victims can lead to the victim losing emotional bonds or affect-based trust with their colleagues, resulting…
Abstract
Purpose
A workplace bullying dynamic involving multiple individuals targeting victims can lead to the victim losing emotional bonds or affect-based trust with their colleagues, resulting in employee silence. The literature has largely ignored this negative aspect of social dynamics. This study aims to examine the relationship between workplace bullying and employee silence behaviors and determine whether affect-based trust mediates this relationship and whether climate for conflict management moderates the mediated relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
Hypotheses are tested using surveys and scenario-based experiments among faculty members in Indian Universities. There were 597 participants in the survey and 166 in the scenario-based experiment.
Findings
Results revealed that workplace bullying correlated positively with silence behaviors, and affect-based trust mediated the bullying-silence relationship. The hypothesized moderated mediation condition was partially supported as moderated the mediating pathway, i.e. indirect effects of workplace bullying on defensive silence and ineffectual silence via affect-based trust were weaker for employees with high climate for conflict management. However, the study failed to support the moderation of climate for conflict management in the relationship between workplace bullying and affect-based trust and workplace bullying and relational silence. The results of this moderated effect of climate for conflict management were similar in both studies.
Originality/value
This study is one of the few attempts to examine employee silence in response to workplace bullying in academia. Additionally, the study revealed a critical area of trust depletion associated with bullying and the importance of employee perceptions of fairness toward their institutions’ dispute resolution processes.
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Knowledge transfer is a crucial ingredient of employee innovation, yet affective work events may disrupt knowledge flow among employees. This study aims to investigate a…
Abstract
Purpose
Knowledge transfer is a crucial ingredient of employee innovation, yet affective work events may disrupt knowledge flow among employees. This study aims to investigate a previously overlooked, yet frequently occurring affective work experience, namely, that of being envied, and examine how perceptions of being envied may drive contrastive knowledge behaviors of sharing and hiding, which subsequently impact employee innovation. The study further examines how the zero-sum game beliefs of the envied individual may moderate these mechanisms.
Design/methodology/approach
This study builds on territorial and belongingness theories to delineate the contrastive motivations for knowledge hiding and knowledge sharing. This study tests a moderated mediation model through a multisource survey design involving 225 employees.
Findings
The results support the notion that perceptions of being envied are linked to both knowledge hiding and knowledge sharing; however, the indirect effect of being envied on innovation is observed only through knowledge sharing. The indirect positive link between perceptions of being envied and innovation via knowledge sharing is weakened when the envied employee holds high zero-sum game beliefs.
Originality/value
This study advances knowledge scholarship by identifying and testing the organizationally relevant but largely overlooked antecedent of being envied at work. The results provide useful insights to practitioners on how sharing or hiding knowledge serves as a strategic asset in response to being envied at work and how this may in turn impact employee innovation.
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Alessandra Lazazzara and Stefano Za
The purpose of this paper is to examine whether subjective age – i.e., how old or young individuals experience themselves to be – affects explicit and tacit knowledge sharing (KS…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine whether subjective age – i.e., how old or young individuals experience themselves to be – affects explicit and tacit knowledge sharing (KS) in the public sector. Moreover, the study explores the moderating effect of three socio-organisational factors, namely KS attitude, co-workers age similarity and organisational structure, on the relationship between subjective age and KS.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from employees working in public (n=144) and hybrid (n=263) Italian organisations. Hierarchical linear multiple regression analysis was employed to examine the multivariate effects on explicit and tacit KS.
Findings
Employees who perceive themselves to be older than they actually are experience lower explicit KS in the public sector. In addition, the moderating effect of age similarity and organisational structure on the relationship between subjective age and tacit KS was found to be significant.
Practical implications
This study may help managers and policy makers to manage age-diverse workforce operating in highly structured and formalised organisations and to develop HR programmes aimed at fostering KS.
Originality/value
This is the first study linking subjective age to KS in the public sector. This is an extremely interesting context due to the high average age and oldest workforce composition. In this way, the paper extends the literature on subjective age and work-related outcomes and may potentially contribute to the debate regarding KS practices in public organisations.
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Yunyun Yuan, Lifeng Yang, Xiangyang Cheng and Jia Wei
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships among knowledge attributes (complexity and implicitness), interpersonal distrust, knowledge hiding (KH) and team efficacy…
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.