WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND: KNOWLEDGE HIDING, PERCEIVED MOTIVATIONAL CLIMATE, AND CREATIVITY

Knowledge hiding prevents colleagues from generating creative ideas, but it may also have negative consequences for the creativity of a knowledge hider. Drawing on social exchange theory, we propose that when employees hide knowledge, they trigger a reciprocal distrust loop in which coworkers are un...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Academy of Management journal 2014-02, Vol.57 (1), p.172-192
Main Authors: ČERNE, MATEJ, NERSTAD, CHRISTINA G. L., DYSVIK, ANDERS, ŠKERLAVAJ, MIHA
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Classroom environment
Climatology
Creativity
Distrust
Dyadics
Effects
Employee attitude
Employee motivation
Employees
Knowledge
Knowledge management
Mastery motivation
Motivation
Motivation research
Multilevel models
Practice
Social exchange
Social exchange theory
Students
Studies
Temperature control
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Summary:Knowledge hiding prevents colleagues from generating creative ideas, but it may also have negative consequences for the creativity of a knowledge hider. Drawing on social exchange theory, we propose that when employees hide knowledge, they trigger a reciprocal distrust loop in which coworkers are unwilling to share knowledge with them. We further suggest that these effects are contingent on motivational climate, in such a way that the negative effects of an individual's hiding knowledge on his/her own creativity are enhanced in a performance climate and attenuated in a mastery climate. A field study of 240 employees nested in 34 groups revealed a negative relationship between knowledge hiding and knowledge hiders' creativity as well as a moderating role of a mastery climate. Study 2 replicated these findings in an experimental study of 132 undergraduate students, testing a reciprocal distrust loop and comparing it with an alternative intrapsychic explanatory process based on situational regulatory focus. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.
ISSN:0001-4273
1948-0989
DOI:10.5465/amj.2012.0122