Citation

Ghani U, Teo T, Li Y, Usman M, Islam ZU, Gul H, Naeem RM, Bahadar H, Yuan J, Zhai X. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020; 17(4): e1240.

Affiliation

College of Education, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310000, China.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph17041240

PMID

32075163

Abstract

The extant literature has focused on individuals' knowledge-sharing behavior and its driving factors, which stimulate the knowledge transmission and exchange in organizations. However, little research has focused on factors that inhibit knowledge sharing and encourage individuals to hide their knowledge. Therefore, based on social exchange and displaced aggression theories, the study proposed and checked a model that examined the effect of abusive supervision on knowledge hiding (KH) via a psychological contract breach (PCB). The Psychological ownership was regarded as a boundary condition on abusive supervision and KH relationship. Using a time-lagged method, we recruited 344 full-time employees enrolled in an executive development program in a large university in China. The findings show that PCB mediates the association between abusive supervision and KH. Similarly, psychological ownership moderates the association between abusive supervision and KH. Employees with high psychological ownership minimized the effect of abusive supervision on KH. Based on study findings, contributions to theory and practice, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

Language: en

Keywords

abusive supervision; knowledge hiding; psychological contract breach; psychological ownership