The influence of leader-signaled knowledge hiding on tourism employees' work withdrawal behavior: A moderated mediating model

• Published in: Frontiers in psychology Vol. 13; p. 1032845
• Main Authors: Xu, Anxin, Zeng, Haimei, Zheng, Qiuqin, Su, Xiaofeng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 09.12.2022
• Subjects: emotional exhaustion; explicit knowledge hiding; knowledge management; leader-signaled knowledge hiding; Psychology; self-practiced knowledge hiding; explicit knowledge hiding; self-practiced knowledge hiding; knowledge management; leader-signaled knowledge hiding; emotional exhaustion
• ISSN: 1664-1078; 1664-1078
• DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1032845

Even though organizations encourage the dissemination of knowledge and information among organizational members, the phenomenon of knowledge hiding still exists widely in organizations. The consequences of leader-signaled knowledge hiding are more destructive to the workplace than the consequences of employees' knowledge hiding. It is particularly necessary to explore the influence mechanism of leader-signaled knowledge hiding on employees' work behavior. Drawing on Conservation of Resources theory, this study establishes a moderated mediation model with emotional exhaustion as a mediating variable and supervisor-subordinate as a moderating variable. This study focuses on the consequences of leader-signaled knowledge hiding and divides leader-signaled knowledge hiding into self-practiced knowledge hiding and explicit knowledge hiding. Based on the results of 440 questionnaires from tourism employees, it is shown that leader-signaled knowledge hiding has a positive impact on employees' work withdrawal behavior. Specifically, leader's self-practiced knowledge hiding has a greater direct impact on employees' work withdrawal behavior, while leader's explicit knowledge hiding has a greater direct impact on employees' emotional exhaustion. Emotional exhaustion plays a key mediating role in the relationship between leader-signaled knowledge hiding (i.e., self-practiced knowledge hiding and explicit knowledge hiding) and employees' work withdrawal behavior. Supervisor-subordinate significantly moderates the positive relationship between leader-signaled knowledge hiding (i.e., self-practiced hiding and explicit knowledge hiding) and employees' emotional exhaustion. This study is an extension of previous research on knowledge hiding. The results provide a reference for leaders to deal with knowledge hiding and improve organizational knowledge management ability.