Purpose There are always ways of giving answers without actually giving them. This is highly visible across different organizations these days. When the emphasis is on openness and knowledge sharing, there is an equivalent construct which takes up a totally different position known as knowledge hiding. The purpose of this paper is to decipher this novel construct knowledge hiding and to understand how unique and different it is from other prominent organizational behaviors. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws from published literature on knowledge hiding research to illustrate the uniqueness of the construct within organizational contexts and possible knowledge management strategies. Findings The paper dissects the construct knowledge hiding in organizations, illustrates how different it is from other prominent organizational behaviors, identifies the strategic factors engendering knowledge hiding, and warrants the effective addressal of the same. Practical implications The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organizations. Originality/value The most critical element in the knowledge management process is not to facilitate knowledge sharing rather prevent inherent knowledge hiding. This paper attempts to address different dimensions of knowledge hiding and how to properly understand, analyze, and master the construct of knowledge hiding for organizational benefit.
Purpose The purpose of this study is to decipher the role of culture in determining knowledge-hiding tendencies of individuals. This study attempts to understand the different strategic factors (SFs) engendering knowledge hiding, model it and finally estimate the driving and dependency potency of these factors in two different cultural contexts – occidental and oriental. Design/methodology/approach The authors undertook content analysis of the pertinent literature to trace out the antecedents. These SFs engendering knowledge hiding were later modeled using total interpretive structural modeling (TISM) with the aid of R programming language and consequently subjected to Matriced’ Impacts Croise’s Multiplication Appliquée a un Classement (MICMAC) analysis to categorize these factors into: autonomous, depending, linkage and driving. Findings The analysis establishes personality traits as a common driving factor engendering knowledge hiding in both the cultural contexts. Emotional intelligence is a key driving factor in an occidental cultural context whereas interpersonal distrust drives knowledge hiding in an oriental cultural setting. The task in hand, its uncertainty and complexity are the other critical factors causing knowledge hiding in the oriental cultural context. Practical implications The study suggests organizations in the occidental setting to streamline their recruitment policy, giving due importance to the personality traits and emotional quotient of individuals. As task uncertainty and complexity are the critical driving factors in the oriental context, the organizations should undertake a delicate balancing act between reducing risk, removing uncertainty and progressing. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is probably the first-ever attempt to apply comprehensive TISM and MICMAC on knowledge hiding, which characterizes the antecedents of knowledge hiding in two opposite cultural contexts and thereby offers to provide the required impetus for further research on the influence of culture in knowledge-hiding behavior.
Purpose In an academic and research institution of repute, where the student researcher’s creative mind and innovative potentials are the kingpin factors, it is of primary interest to segregate and pool competencies at an individual level and to create dynamic synergetic effects. Knowledge about potential core competencies and own resources, facilitation of existing personal relationships and the development of new personal relations and cooperation are necessary prerequisites. This is where social network analysis (SNA) acts as a useful tool for measuring the performance of knowledge sharing. Design/methodology/approach The current study makes a detailed analysis of the knowledge sharing network among the student researchers. The research study estimates different parameters such as knowledge sharing in various departments, the motivation for research and research environment. This work mainly attempts to undertake a differential analysis of the knowledge sharing pattern among the research scholars with the aid of Pajek software and R programming. Findings A holistic knowledge sharing network for the entire set of research scholars is established and the centrality features of the network and among the departments are analyzed, leading to a road map which deliberates on whom to appease and whom to circumvent. Research limitations/implications Every institute or organization can use the SNA to identify the key stakeholders in the knowledge sharing environment or the kingpin actors who are prone to knowledge hiding. Such useful identification of the vital stakeholders can give information on how to eliminate the barriers in the knowledge management systems, so that enhanced level of collaboration happens. Originality/value This is the first comprehensive SNA to decipher the knowledge sharing pattern among researchers. This work characterizes knowledge management research literature and thereby offers to reduce redundant research by delineating the possible avenues in the area of knowledge sharing.
Knowledge hiding is an intentional attempt by an individual to withhold knowledge. Though knowledge hiding as a research area has gained popularity only in recent years, the withholding of information has been a concern for business organizations for a long time, having significant implications for knowledge management. Accordingly, knowledge hiding as a construct has received enough deliberations from the practitioners. However, academic researchers have called for more systematic research on knowledge hiding, giving us enough motivation to carry out a research study on the same. First, this article attempts to decipher the term “knowledge hiding” by defining it and differentiating it from several synonymous terms. Second, some of the existing knowledge hiding frameworks are analyzed. Finally, a morphological analysis of the selected literature, including a qualitative rating, estimating the extent of the work is undertaken, which throws light into the areas that have already been studied and underscores the pertinent 184 research gaps worthy of further investigation. In addition to the identification of these distinct research gaps, the analysis categorically establishes two outcomes. The findings suggest that around half of the total research literature on knowledge hiding evolved in the last 2 years, which makes it a salient area of research. The extent of work done in knowledge hiding, captured by an average qualitative rating score of 2.55 out of 5 underscores that this novel construct bears large research potential. Therefore, a morphological analysis, as carried out in this article, strengthens the current understanding on knowledge hiding and provides the impetus for further research in the area.
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