Alexithymia, social inhibition, affectivity, and knowledge hiding

Abubakar²

2022

JKM

Purpose This study aims to propose and test a model explicating the antecedents and consequences of knowledge sabotage. Design/methodology/approach Data obtained from 330 employees working in the Turkish retail and telecommunication sectors were analyzed by means of the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling technique. Findings Co-worker knowledge sabotage is the key factor driving knowledge sabotage behavior of individual employees, followed by co-worker incivility. Interactional justice suppresses individual knowledge sabotage, while supervisor incivility does not affect it. Co-worker knowledge sabotage reduces job satisfaction of other employees, which, in turn, triggers their voluntary turnover intention. Contrary to a popular belief that perpetrators generally benefit from their organizational misbehavior, the findings indicate that knowledge saboteurs suffer from the consequences of their action because they find it mentally difficult to stay in their current organization. Employees understate their own knowledge sabotage engagement and/or overstate that of others. Practical implications Managers should realize that interactional justice is an important mechanism that can thwart knowledge sabotage behavior, promote a civil organizational culture, develop proactive approaches to reduce co-worker incivility and strive towards a zero rate of knowledge sabotage incidents in their organizations. Co-worker incivility and co-worker knowledge sabotage in the workplace are possible inhibitors of intraorganizational knowledge flows and are starting points for job dissatisfaction, which may increase workers’ turnover intention. Originality/value This study is among the first to further our knowledge on the cognitive mechanisms linking interactional justice and uncivil organizational behavior with knowledge sabotage and employee outcomes.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Antecedents and consequences of knowledge sabotage in the Turkish telecommunication and retail sectors

Abubakar²

2022

JKM

“…Specifically, by relying on a case study approach, they highlighted the pernicious role of major depressive disorder and mood disorders such as mania and showed how these disorders may reinforce employees’ knowledge hiding. Kmieciak (2022) also empirically demonstrated that alexithymia – defined as difficulty identifying and describing one’s feelings – and social inhibition predict knowledge hiding. In a similar vein, Santoro et al (2021) emphasized that employees’ mental health is also a sign of resilience which, in turn, boosts their productive behaviors.…”

Section: Introduction [1]mentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Of these, social work demands are particularly important because counterproductive knowledge behavior is generally conducted in the social environment when employees interact with their fellow coworkers. Employees who possess personality disorders exhibit psychological and social deficiencies that determine their knowledge-related decisions (Kmieciak, 2022). In particular, when they are exposed to situational clues which are associated with workplace stress, their personality disorders are manifested in such a way that they distort these workers’ cognitive, affective, behavioral and biological processes (Lee et al , 2005; Gray et al , 2011) which, in turn, trigger maladaptive behavioral responses (Kovacs and Beck, 1978; Liau et al , 1998) in the workplace.…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To continue the line of research pioneered by Issac et al (2021b) and Kmieciak (2022), this study explores the role of personality disorders in the context of counterproductive knowledge behavior. Personality disorders are a specific group of mental disorders (Millon, 2011a) which include people's pervasive and inflexible inner experiences and behaviors which substantially deviate from the expectations of their culture: these experiences and behaviors are generally stable and cause distress and impairment (APA, 2013).…”

Section: Introduction [1]mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Personality disorders as a predictor of counterproductive knowledge behavior: the application of the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-IV

2023

JKM

Purpose This study investigates the role of personality disorders in the context of counterproductive knowledge behavior. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through a survey administered to 120 full-time employees recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Personality disorders were measured by means of the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-IV. Findings Personality disorders play an important role in the context of counterproductive knowledge behavior: employees suffering from various personality disorders are likely to hide knowledge from their fellow coworkers and engage in knowledge sabotage. Of particular importance are dependent, narcissistic and sadistic personality disorders as well as schizophrenic and delusional severe clinical syndromes. There is a need for a paradigm shift in terms of how the research community should portray those who engage in counterproductive knowledge behavior, reconsidering the underlying assumption that all of them act deliberately, consciously and rationally. Unexpectedly, most personality disorders do not facilitate knowledge hoarding. Practical implications Organizations should provide insurance coverage for the treatment of personality disorders, assist those seeking treatment, inform employees about the existence of personality disorders in the workplace and their impact on interemployee relationships, facilitate a stress-free work environment, remove social stigma that may be associated with personality disorders and, as a last resort, reassign workers suffering from extreme forms of personality disorders to tasks that require less interemployee interaction (instead of terminating them). Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work represents one of the first attempts to empirically investigate the notion of personality disorders in the context of knowledge management.

“…Fourth, the sudden departure of numerous fellow coworkers within a very short time may have a negative psychological effect on the remaining employees, causing anxiety, stress and disappointment. Employees exhibiting such poor mental states are less likely to share their knowledge with others (Issac et al , 2021; Kmieciak, 2022), which may further impede intra-organizational knowledge flows. Fifth, when people work together, they often start socializing; develop workplace friendships which are based on common interests, trust, reciprocal liking and shared values; and eventually create networks of friendship ties connecting multiple coworkers (Sias and Cahill, 1998; Berman et al , 2002; Serenko et al , 2022).…”

Section: The Knowledge-related Impacts Of the Great Resignationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Great Resignation: the great knowledge exodus or the onset of the Great Knowledge Revolution?

2022

JKM

Purpose The purpose of this Real Impact Viewpoint Article is to analyze the phenomenon of the Great Resignation from the knowledge management perspective. Design/methodology/approach It applies the knowledge-based view of the firm to the notion of the Great Resignation, reviews the extant literature and relies on secondary data. Findings The Great Resignation has created numerous knowledge-related impacts on the individual, organizational and national levels. On the individual level, because of an accelerating adoption of freelancing, the future may witness an expansion of the category of the knowledge worker and a growing need for personal knowledge management methods and information technologies. Organizational effects include knowledge loss, reduced business process efficiency, damaged intra-organizational knowledge flows, lower relational capital, lost informal friendship networks, difficulty attracting the best human capital, undermined knowledge transfer processes and knowledge leakage to competition. Countries may also witness the depletion of national human capital. Practical implications Managers should learn how to use the available human capital more efficiently; realize the importance of universal succession planning programs; automate knowledge-centric business processes; facilitate knowledge-based IT initiatives by implementing self-functioning virtual communities, including enterprise social networks; restructure organizations to optimize intra-organizational knowledge flows; adjust strategies, products and target markets based on the available human capital; and create telecommuting conditions for people with disabilities who cannot be physically present. Knowledge management scholars are presented with a unique opportunity to convert the numerous theoretical insights accumulated within the boundaries of their discipline into practical application to facilitate the Great Knowledge Revolution. Originality/value This viewpoint offers managerial recommendations and inspires future Great Resignation investigations.