Knowledge hiding in organizations: everything that managers need to know

Abstract

Purpose Though there have been umpteen discussions on knowledge sharing in organizations, there is a dearth of discussion on knowledge hiding acts, especially in learning organizations. The purpose of this paper is to introduce this novel construct “knowledge hiding” and to highlight its relevant aspects crucial to organizations. Design/methodology/approach The paper reviews published articles on knowledge hiding and proposes four broad categories to distinguish the causes of knowledge hiding. This paper further suggests substantial measures that managers need to emphasize for dealing with the dimensions that influence knowledge hiding acts, to alleviate or mitigate the causes behind knowledge hiding acts at the workplace. Findings This paper identifies the causes of knowledge hiding behaviors and segregates these causes under four broad categories, i.e. person-related, job-related, coworkers-related, and organization-related causes. Originality/value This paper provides valuable information on knowledge hiding acts in the workplace to the practitioners in a simplified structure, along with some practical remedies to manage such acts.

Why should I share knowledge with others? A review-based framework on events leading to knowledge hiding

“…(Xio and Cooke, 2018). Despite the consequences, managers have not achieved success in controlling knowledge hiding actions (Anand and Hassan, 2019) and we contribute to the ongoing discussions to KH by proposing various events that may lead to KH. Previous research by Connelly et al (2019) proposed that individuals engage in three forms of KH behaviours: 'playing dumb', i.e.…”

Towards Explaining Knowledge Hiding through Relationship Conflict, Frustration, and Irritability: The Case of Public Sector Teaching Hospitals

“…These studies have additionally examined numerous structural challenges and practices intended to foster knowledge sharing behavior, and tried to find ways to promote knowledge sharing and also the reasons behind knowledge hiding [5,6]. The study of knowledge in an organizational context has deliberately focused on information sharing processes [3,7,8]. Despite these efforts, the hiding of knowledge among employees continues to increase, and has become pervasive [9].…”

Antecedents of Knowledge Hiding and Their Impact on Organizational Performance

“…With a more diverse workforce, a strong framework is required to remove hidden motives or matters related to morals or cultural barriers, encouraging solidarity and cooperation. Given the problem’s gravity, management has had little success in preventing knowledge concealment ( Anand and Hassan, 2019 ). As previously stated, knowledge hiding happens when members conceal or hide their exclusive knowledge (e.g., achievements, expertise, and know-how) that is required by others.…”

“…Concealment might thus be deliberate, contextual, or affected by both internally and externally motivational variables. Others, on the other hand, use the term knowledge hiding interchangeably with knowledge hoarding ( de Geofroy and Evans, 2017 ; Anand and Hassan, 2019 ). Furthermore, the terms information hiding and knowledge hoarding are frequently utilized to characterize non-sharing behavior.…”