IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ororsc/v26y2015i2p494-510.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Withholding the Ace: The Individual- and Unit-Level Performance Effects of Self-Reported and Perceived Knowledge Hoarding

Author

Listed:
  • Joel M. Evans

    (SKK Graduate School of Business, Sungkyunkwan University, Jongno-gu, Seoul 110-745, Republic of Korea)

  • Michael G. Hendron

    (Department of Organizational Leadership and Strategy, Marriott School of Management, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602)

  • James B. Oldroyd

    (Department of Management, Fisher College of Business, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210)

Abstract

This paper investigates knowledge hoarding , defined as an individual’s deliberate and strategic concealment of information, and perceived hoarding , defined as coworkers' beliefs that an individual is engaged in hoarding. We hypothesize that knowledge hoarding increases an individual’s job performance by enhancing bargaining power and influence, whereas perceived hoarding decreases the individual’s job performance because coworkers withdraw social support. We further suggest that knowledge hoarding and perceived hoarding are both detrimental to unit performance because they hurt work-related interactions and impair the unit’s ability to respond quickly to problems. Using a sample of 297 individuals embedded in 41 units in the U.S. Forest Service, we find that the positive effect of hoarding on individual performance is mediated by bargaining power, whereas the negative effect of perceived hoarding on individual performance is mediated by social support. In addition, individual hoarding and perceived hoarding both diminish unit performance. Collectively, our results reveal the mixed fortunes that befall individuals and their organizations as a result of knowledge hoarding and suspected hoarding activity.

Suggested Citation

  • Joel M. Evans & Michael G. Hendron & James B. Oldroyd, 2015. "Withholding the Ace: The Individual- and Unit-Level Performance Effects of Self-Reported and Perceived Knowledge Hoarding," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(2), pages 494-510, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:26:y:2015:i:2:p:494-510
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2014.0945
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2014.0945
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/orsc.2014.0945?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wenpin Tsai, 2002. "Social Structure of “Coopetition” Within a Multiunit Organization: Coordination, Competition, and Intraorganizational Knowledge Sharing," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 13(2), pages 179-190, April.
    2. Narda R. Quigley & Paul E. Tesluk & Edwin A. Locke & Kathryn M. Bartol, 2007. "A Multilevel Investigation of the Motivational Mechanisms Underlying Knowledge Sharing and Performance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(1), pages 71-88, February.
    3. Williamson, Oliver E, 1979. "Transaction-Cost Economics: The Governance of Contractural Relations," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(2), pages 233-261, October.
    4. Linda Argote & Bill McEvily & Ray Reagans, 2003. "Managing Knowledge in Organizations: An Integrative Framework and Review of Emerging Themes," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(4), pages 571-582, April.
    5. Marie Louise Mors, 2010. "Innovation in a global consulting firm: when the problem is too much diversity," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(8), pages 841-872, August.
    6. Bill McEvily & Vincenzo Perrone & Akbar Zaheer, 2003. "Trust as an Organizing Principle," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 14(1), pages 91-103, February.
    7. Elizabeth E. Umphress & John B. Bingham, 2011. "When Employees Do Bad Things for Good Reasons: Examining Unethical Pro-Organizational Behaviors," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(3), pages 621-640, June.
    8. Martine R. Haas, 2006. "Acquiring and Applying Knowledge in Transnational Teams: The Roles of Cosmopolitans and Locals," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(3), pages 367-384, June.
    9. Martine R. Haas & Sangchan Park, 2010. "To Share or Not to Share? Professional Norms, Reference Groups, and Information Withholding Among Life Scientists," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(4), pages 873-891, August.
    10. Gee W. Bock & Young-Gul Kim, 2002. "Breaking the Myths of Rewards: An Exploratory Study of Attitudes about Knowledge Sharing," Information Resources Management Journal (IRMJ), IGI Global, vol. 15(2), pages 14-21, April.
    11. Margit Osterloh & Bruno S. Frey, 2000. "Motivation, Knowledge Transfer, and Organizational Forms," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 11(5), pages 538-550, October.
    12. Argote, Linda & Ingram, Paul, 2000. "Knowledge Transfer: A Basis for Competitive Advantage in Firms," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 150-169, May.
    13. Szulanski, Gabriel, 2000. "The Process of Knowledge Transfer: A Diachronic Analysis of Stickiness," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 9-27, May.
    14. Ross, Stephen A, 1973. "The Economic Theory of Agency: The Principal's Problem," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 63(2), pages 134-139, May.
    15. Steinel, Wolfgang & Utz, Sonja & Koning, Lukas, 2010. "The good, the bad and the ugly thing to do when sharing information: Revealing, concealing and lying depend on social motivation, distribution and importance of information," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 113(2), pages 85-96, November.
    16. Kyle Lewis & Benjamin Herndon, 2011. "Transactive Memory Systems: Current Issues and Future Research Directions," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(5), pages 1254-1265, October.
    17. Samer Faraj & Lee Sproull, 2000. "Coordinating Expertise in Software Development Teams," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(12), pages 1554-1568, December.
    18. Moreland, Richard L. & Myaskovsky, Larissa, 2000. "Exploring the Performance Benefits of Group Training: Transactive Memory or Improved Communication?," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 117-133, May.
    19. Jeffrey H Dyer & Wujin Chu, 2000. "The Determinants of Trust in Supplier-Automaker Relationships in the U.S., Japan and Korea," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 31(2), pages 259-285, June.
    20. Daniel Z. Levin & Rob Cross, 2004. "The Strength of Weak Ties You Can Trust: The Mediating Role of Trust in Effective Knowledge Transfer," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(11), pages 1477-1490, November.
    21. John Seely Brown & Paul Duguid, 1991. "Organizational Learning and Communities-of-Practice: Toward a Unified View of Working, Learning, and Innovation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 40-57, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Katrina M. Brownell & Audra Quinn & Mark T. Bolinger, 2024. "The Triad Divided: A Curvilinear Mediation Model Linking Founder Machiavellianism, Narcissism, and Psychopathy to New Venture Performance," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 48(1), pages 310-348, January.
    2. Shuyun Du & Yinan Ma & Jeoung Yul Lee, 2022. "Workplace Loneliness and the Need to Belong in the Era of COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-22, April.
    3. Chen, Liangyong & Liu, Yu & Hu, Sanman & Zhang, Sai, 2022. "Perception of organizational politics and innovative behavior in the workplace: The roles of knowledge-sharing hostility and mindfulness," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 268-276.
    4. Siachou, Evangelia & Trichina, Eleni & Papasolomou, Ioanna & Sakka, Georgia, 2021. "Why do employees hide their knowledge and what are the consequences? A systematic literature review," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 195-213.
    5. Pan, Wei & Zhang, Qingpu & Teo, Thompson S.H. & Lim, Vivien K.G., 2018. "The dark triad and knowledge hiding," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 36-48.
    6. Delio I. Castaneda & Sergio Cuellar, 2021. "Knowledge Sharing in Business Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-19, March.
    7. Gonçalves, Tiago & Curado, Carla & Oliveira, Mírian, 2023. "Clarifying knowledge withholding: A systematic literature review and future research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    8. Pereira, Vijay & Mohiya, Mohamed, 2021. "Share or hide? Investigating positive and negative employee intentions and organizational support in the context of knowledge sharing and hiding," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 368-381.
    9. Soral, Prakriti & Pati, Surya Prakash & Kakani, Ram Kumar, 2022. "Knowledge hiding as a coping response to the supervisors’ dark triad of personality: A protection motivation theory perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 1077-1091.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Narda R. Quigley & Paul E. Tesluk & Edwin A. Locke & Kathryn M. Bartol, 2007. "A Multilevel Investigation of the Motivational Mechanisms Underlying Knowledge Sharing and Performance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(1), pages 71-88, February.
    2. Linda Argote & Ella Miron-Spektor, 2011. "Organizational Learning: From Experience to Knowledge," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(5), pages 1123-1137, October.
    3. Linda Argote & Sunkee Lee & Jisoo Park, 2021. "Organizational Learning Processes and Outcomes: Major Findings and Future Research Directions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(9), pages 5399-5429, September.
    4. Wang, Youying & Huang, Qian & Davison, Robert M. & Yang, Feng, 2018. "Effect of transactive memory systems on team performance mediated by knowledge transfer," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 65-79.
    5. Shao, Jun Jie & Ariss, Akram AL, 2020. "Knowledge transfer between self-initiated expatriates and their organizations: Research propositions for managing SIEs," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(1).
    6. Argote, Linda & Fahrenkopf, Erin, 2016. "Knowledge transfer in organizations: The roles of members, tasks, tools, and networks," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 146-159.
    7. Mäkelä, Kristiina & Andersson, Ulf & Seppälä, Tomi, 2012. "Interpersonal similarity and knowledge sharing within multinational organizations," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 439-451.
    8. Renzl, Birgit, 2008. "Trust in management and knowledge sharing: The mediating effects of fear and knowledge documentation," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 206-220, April.
    9. Sharath Sasidharan & Radhika Santhanam & Daniel J. Brass & Vallabh Sambamurthy, 2012. "The Effects of Social Network Structure on Enterprise Systems Success: A Longitudinal Multilevel Analysis," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 23(3-part-1), pages 658-678, September.
    10. Esther Tippmann & Pamela Sharkey Scott & Vincent Mangematin, 2014. "Subsidiary managers’ knowledge mobilizations: Unpacking emergent knowledge flows," Post-Print hal-00864324, HAL.
    11. Josef Windsperger & Nina Gorovaia, 2011. "Knowledge attributes and the choice of knowledge transfer mechanism in networks: the case of franchising," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 15(4), pages 617-640, November.
    12. Sheen S. Levine & Michael J. Prietula, 2012. "How Knowledge Transfer Impacts Performance: A Multilevel Model of Benefits and Liabilities," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(6), pages 1748-1766, December.
    13. Venkatesh, Viswanath & Davis, Fred D. & Zhu, Yaping, 2022. "A cultural contingency model of knowledge sharing and job performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 202-219.
    14. Hishamuddin bin Md.Som & Roland Yeow Theng Nam & Rashid Nordin & Mohd Naeim Ajis & Mohamad Faisol Keling & Md. Shukri Shuib, 2011. "The Implementation of Learning Organization Elements and their Impact towards Organizational Performance amongst NPOs in Singapore," Far East Journal of Psychology and Business, Far East Research Centre, vol. 5(1), pages 1-50, December.
    15. Schneckenberg, Dirk & Truong, Yann & Mazloomi, Hamid, 2015. "Microfoundations of innovative capabilities: The leverage of collaborative technologies on organizational learning and knowledge management in a multinational corporation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 356-368.
    16. Kim, Junghwan & Song, Jaeki & Jones, Donald R., 2011. "The cognitive selection framework for knowledge acquisition strategies in virtual communities," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 111-120.
    17. Esterhuizen, D. & Schutte, C.S.L. & du Toit, A.S.A., 2012. "Knowledge creation processes as critical enablers for innovation," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 354-364.
    18. Nicolai J. Foss & Kenneth Husted & Snejina Michailova, 2010. "Governing Knowledge Sharing in Organizations: Levels of Analysis, Governance Mechanisms, and Research Directions," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3), pages 455-482, May.
    19. Ann Majchrzak & Lynne P. Cooper & Olivia E. Neece, 2004. "Knowledge Reuse for Innovation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(2), pages 174-188, February.
    20. Xin Liu & Lin Zhang & Abhinav Gupta & Xiaoming Zheng & Changqi Wu, 2022. "Upper echelons and intra‐organizational learning: How executive narcissism affects knowledge transfer among business units," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(11), pages 2351-2381, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:26:y:2015:i:2:p:494-510. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.