Ethical Leadership and Knowledge Hiding: A Moderated Mediation Model of Psychological Safety and Mastery Climate

• Published in: Journal of business ethics Vol. 166; no. 3; pp. 461 - 472
• Main Authors: Men, Chenghao, Fong, Patrick S. W., Huo, Weiwei, Zhong, Jing, Jia, Ruiqian, Luo, Jinlian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer 01.10.2020; Springer Netherlands; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Business and Management; Business Ethics; Chief executive officers; Education; Ethics; Knowledge management; Knowledge sharing; Leadership; Management; Original Paper; Philosophy; Psychological aspects; Psychological safety; Quality of Life Research; Safety; Skill development; Social & emotional learning; Social learning; Teams; Psychological safety; Knowledge hiding; Mastery climate; Ethical leadership
• ISSN: 0167-4544; 1573-0697
• DOI: 10.1007/s10551-018-4027-7

According to social learning theory, we explored the relation between ethical leadership and knowledge hiding. We developed a moderated mediation model of the psychological safety linking ethical leadership and knowledge hiding. Surveying 436 employees in 78 teams, we found that ethical leadership was negatively related to knowledge hiding, and that this relation was mediated by psychological safety. We further found that the effect of ethical leadership on knowledge hiding was contingent on a mastery climate. Finally, theoretical and practical implications were discussed for leadership and knowledge management.