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Salespeople frequently face the predicament of wanting to protect their market knowledge from coworkers while not appearing recalcitrant. Considering the choice of disclosing information or refusing to disclose, they may choose a third option: appearing to share knowledge while concealing substantive information, which this study calls evasive knowledge hiding. This study surmises that the consequences of these choices impact perceptions of customer outcomes. Using social exchange theory, the purpose of this article is to examine the internal relational antecedents and perceptions of external customer outcomes of evasive knowledge hiding, as well as the moderating effects of pushover manager and environmental dynamism.

A moderated mediation model was used to analyze survey data from 234 business-to-business salespeople.

Internal competition and coworkers’ past opportunistic behavior increase evasive knowledge hiding. These effects are attenuated if the manager is not a pushover. Evasive knowledge hiding decreases perceptions of external customer outcomes, particularly at low levels of environmental dynamism.

Data was collected from salespeople, which presents a look from perpetrators themselves. While directly observing salespeople was the goal, sourcing and matching customer and manager data would only strengthen the results.

Salespeople evasively hide their knowledge if it is in their best interest, which may unwittingly hurt perceptions of customer outcomes.

This study formally introduces salesperson evasive knowledge hiding into the marketing and sales literature. The research highlights the dark side of social exchange theory by demonstrating how internal coworker relationships affect perceptions of external customer relationships via evasive knowledge hiding. This study also introduces pushover manager as an enabling moderating variable.

As a key driver of organizational agility, open innovation allows for improving time-to-market and complexity, which are the mechanisms that most significantly lower the risk of knowledge expropriation in emerging markets. For this reason, there is concern about the negative impacts of hiding knowledge in the context of inter-organizational collaborative work. Therefore, the research goal is to analyze the moderating effect of the three types of knowledge hiding (playing dumb, evasive hiding and rationalized hiding) on the relationship between open innovation (both inbound and outbound) and agility.

The research model was tested with survey data from a sample of 248 companies located in an emerging country, mostly from sectors of high turbulence in demand and technology.

None of the three types of knowledge hiding has a negative effect on the relationship between open innovation and agility. Surprisingly, evasive hiding has a positive and significant effect, specifically on the relationship between inbound open innovation and agility.

The study contributes to the discussion on the contradictory influence of knowledge hiding. Although the presence of knowledge hiding in business relationships with their external partners is undeniable, this research makes clear that, when faced with the particular need to be agile, businesses recognize that the benefits of open innovation in terms of time-to-market improvement and complexity outweigh the protectionism underlying hiding. Moreover, the study results suggest evasive hiding is essential for the inbound process to use time effectively and avoid wasting it in discussions that do not promote agility.

Despite burgeoning interest in knowledge hiding (KH), there are still significant gaps in the understanding of the boundary conditions under which KH is more or less likely to occur. To address this research gap, the researchers examined abusive supervision as an interpersonal antecedent of KH. In addition, this paper aims to investigate the moderating roles of negative reciprocity beliefs (NRB) and moral disengagement (MD) in the relationship between abusive supervision and KH.

Two-wave data using a non-experimental face-to-face method was collected from 257 service employees in Pakistan, which supported the hypothesized model. Considering minimum sample size requirements (i.e. n = 208) in partial least squares structural equation modeling, the researchers analyzed a two-stage approach to test the measurement model and the structural model.

The study found that abusive supervision was positively related to evasive hiding and playing dumb but not associated with rationalized hiding. Further, the results confirm the moderating roles of NRB and MD. The positive relationships between abusive supervision and evasive hiding and playing dumb are intensified at high levels of NRB and MD.

Given the complicated nature of KH, this is one of the few efforts that outstretch the boundary conditions of KH.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between intra-organizational knowledge hiding (I-OKH) and turnover intention via the mediating role of organizational embeddedness.

A model was developed and tested with data collected from 276 knowledge workers from the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) using Smart PLS3 to test the hypotheses.

Results show that organizational embeddedness mediates the relationship between intra-organizational knowledge hiding and turnover intention because intra-organizational knowledge hiding relates negatively to organizational embeddedness, which, in turn, has a negative effect on turnover intentions.

This study can be beneficial for organizations that employ knowledge workers. The management should pay attention to the existence and consequences of intra-organizational knowledge hiding to control one of the causing factors of weakened organizational embeddedness, which, in turn, increases employee turnover intentions.

This study is the first attempt to analyze knowledge hiding from a third-person point of view. Moreover, this is the first to examine the mediating role of organizational embeddedness in the relationship between intra-organizational knowledge hiding and employee turnover intentions, enriched by employing the data from the knowledge workers beyond the Anglo-American-European world.

In recent years, counterproductive knowledge behavior (CKB) and its types have received increasing interest in knowledge management as the degree of knowledge sharing and innovation in enterprises continues to increase. A rapidly growing number of studies have shed light on the important antecedents and consequences of employees’ CKB. However, the various labels, conceptualizations and operationalizations of CKB have fragmented this body of research. This study aims to systematically integrate the effects of the six types of organizational characteristics on CKB and further draws more general conclusions based on the results of previous studies.

Based on a survey of 103 effect values responsible for 52 CKB samples, the authors use the ABC theory to explore the effects of the six types of organizational characteristics on CKB. Moderator analysis were performed to resolve inconsistencies in empirical studies and understand the contexts under which CKB has the strongest or weakest effect.

The results showed that task interdependence and a positive organizational atmosphere, in general, negatively affect employees’ CKB in the moderation analysis. In contrast, workplace discomfort, negative organizational atmosphere, internal competition and time pressure positively and partly affect employees’ CKB. The direction and magnitude of these effects were affected by emotional factors, knowledge personnel types and sample sources. Discussing the theoretical, methodological and practical implications of these findings can offer a guiding framework for future research.

Better control of employees’ CKB is not achieved by adjusting organizational characteristics alone but by combining personal characteristics and mood changes with it to balance organizational characteristics and CKB. Furthermore, the large-sample joint study integrated the conceptual definition of CKB. The multivariate data study provided more reliable conclusions and a solid theoretical foundation for CKB research areas.

This paper aims to explore the increasing importance of the intraorganizational dimension of the sales role (IDSR) based on service-ecosystem theory. Specifically, it examines how firms can improve interactions both internally and with external actors and stakeholders to both create and sustain advantageous “thin crossing points” (Hartmann et al. 2018). Academic research on sales ecosystems has yet to fully harness the rich insights and potential afforded by the crossing-point perspective.

After developing and unpacking the paper’s guiding conceptual framework (Figure 1), the authors focus on crossing points and the diversity of interactions between the contemporary sales force and its many stakeholders. They examine the sales literature, identify opportunities for thinning sales crossing points and propose dozens of research questions and needs.

The paper examines the importance of improving interactions both within and outside the vendor firm to thin crossing points, further develops the concept of the “sales ecosystem” and contributes a series of important research questions for future examination.

The paper focuses on applying “thick” and “thin” crossing points, a key element of Hartman et al. (2018). The primary limitation of the paper is that it focuses solely on the crossing-points perspective and does not consider other applications of Hartman et al. (2018).

This work informs managers of the need to improve interactions both within and outside the firm by thinning crossing points. Improving relationships with stakeholders will improve many vendor firm and customer outcomes, including performance.

Integrating findings from the literature, the authors propose a conceptual framework to encompass the entire diversity of idiosyncratic interactions as well as long-term relationships the sales force experiences. They discuss the strategic importance of thinning crossing points as well as the competitive disadvantages, even peril, “thick” crossing points create. They propose an ambitious research agenda based on dozens of questions to drive further examination of the IDSR from a sales-ecosystem perspective.

This study aims to examine the differences in the impact of three leadership styles (transactional, transformational and creative) on intraorganizational online knowledge-sharing and employee creativity. Specifically, we use self-determination theory (SDT) to examine the impact of these three leadership styles on four aspects of online knowledge sharing (knowledge donating, knowledge collecting, lurking and active lurking) and the moderating role of organizational innovation on these relationships.

Data were collected from 361 employees of business-to-business organizations in Vietnam to support all our hypotheses. Structural equation modelling was used for data analysis.

Transformational, transactional and creative leadership were found to affect online knowledge sharing, wherein creative leadership had the most potent effect. Online knowledge sharing was found to mediate the impact of three types of leadership on employee creativity. The results also showed that organizational innovation moderates the influence of leadership on online knowledge sharing.

This paper extends the current knowledge management research on online knowledge sharing by studying two new behaviors (lurking and active lurking), linking diverse leadership styles to these behaviors and employee creativity, and exploring the moderating role of organizational innovation. Our findings shed light on the complexity of the relationship between leadership and online knowledge sharing. This study also provides valuable implications for practitioners to help them choose the most appropriate leadership style for their digitalization process to ensure optimal outcomes.

Sales organizations embrace technological innovation. However, salespeople’s willingness to use new technology influences a firm’s return on investment, representing a significant concern for the organization. These concerns highlight tensions regarding the tradeoffs associated with technology implementations. The purpose of this study is to offer insights that help reduce the complexities of sales technology (ST) by exploring the changing dynamics of contemporary business relationships.

This paper synthesizes the ST literature using the service ecosystem perspective to propose the sales techno-ecosystem (STE) framework, providing new insights into organizational decision-making related to the ongoing digital transformation of sales tasks.

This synthesis of the ST literature with the service ecosystem seeks to clarify the impact of technology within the evolving nature of buyer–seller relationships by providing four unique perspectives.

Perspective 1 reviews the sales-service ecosystem framework and develops the theoretical underpinnings and relevant terminologies. Perspective 2 summarizes critical aspects of the ST literature and provides foundations for future research in the STE. Perspective 3 offers a more granular view, explicating roles and contexts prevalent in buyer–seller–technology interactions. Perspective 4 provides a set of tenets and advances research questions related to each tenet.

The culmination of these four perspectives is the introduction of five key tenants designed to help guide strategy and research.

The paper advances Hartmann et al. (2018) service ecosystem paradigm by explicating critical aspects of its ST domain to generate insights for theory and practice.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Despite managers’ investments in facilitating knowledge sharing, knowledge hiding remains prevalent in organizations. Existing studies shed light on the antecedents and consequences of knowledge hiding from the hider’s perspective. This study, the first, aims to examine the consequences of perceived knowledge hiding on the performance of knowledge seekers individually and organizations more broadly.

The authors develop a theoretical framework, drawing on self-determination theory (SDT) and social exchange theory (SET). The framework is tested empirically via hierarchical regression analyses, using survey data collected from salespersons (n = 296) and supervisors (n = 83) employed by one of the largest distribution and market expansion companies in Myanmar.

Consistent with SDT, the results show that perceived knowledge hiding exerts a positive effect on knowledge seekers’ individual sales performance, although this relationship is moderated by social interaction. Conversely, the results show a negative relationship between perceived knowledge hiding and team viability, which is moderated by reward structure, consistent with SET.

The results have several strategic implications, including on the type of reward structures (i.e. individual vs team-based) that most effectively mitigate the negative consequences of perceived knowledge hiding.

This is the first empirical study of the consequences of perceived knowledge hiding. This model integrates two theoretical perspectives which highlight positive and negative consequences of perceived knowledge hiding.