Knowledge hiding as the dark side of competitive psychological climate

Abstract

Purpose

Previous studies suggest that competitive psychological climate at workplace may influence employee's attitudes and behaviors. The purpose of this paper is to explore whether competitive psychological climate leads to increased knowledge-hiding behavior.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing upon the conservation of resources theory, we developed a conceptual model which we empirically tested using survey data collected from 296 salespersons from one of the largest distribution market expansion companies in Myanmar.

Findings

We performed hierarchical regression analyses on the data obtained from 296 salespersons to confirm our hypotheses: competitive psychological climate is positively related to knowledge hiding. This relationship becomes weaker when there is high level of organizational justice and high level of optimism.

Research limitations/implications

The findings shed light on the dark side of competitive psychological climate, such that it translates into knowledge hiding, which is not beneficial for favorable organizational outcomes. To mitigate that, management needs to focus on promoting organizational justice and recruit more optimistic employees.

Originality/value

Although there are many previous studies on competitive psychological climate and its positive and negative impacts, this paper, to the authors' best knowledge, is the first to study its specific effect on knowledge hiding in the sales context.

Citation

Han, M.S., Masood, K., Cudjoe, D. and Wang, Y. (2021), "Knowledge hiding as the dark side of competitive psychological climate", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 42 No. 2, pp. 195-207. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-03-2020-0090