Knowledge hiding in two contrasting cultural contexts

Abstract

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.

Factors influencing the epidemiological characteristics of pandemic COVID 19: A TISM approach

“…TISM is a methodology used to understand the interrelationship between and among the factors that affects the epidemiological characteristics of pandemic COVID-19 around the globe. Many researchers have used TISM approach for analysing factors relationships in manufacturing and service industries [45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55].…”

Identifying and modeling the antecedents of counterproductive knowledge behavior: a three-study analysis

“…As a form of emotional abuse, workplace ostracism decreases individual engagement (Zhao et al , 2013) and interpersonal transactions (Smart-Richman and Leary, 2009). Employees facing workplace ostracism tended toward CKB, such as knowledge withholding (Zhao et al , 2016) and knowledge hiding (Issac and Baral, 2019).…”

“…Time pressure restricts an employee’s tendency to share knowledge (Connelly et al , 2014; Škerlavaj et al , 2018). Job insecurity (H1d) refers to employees’ concerns about the stability of their jobs and derives principally from an organization’s rate of involuntary job turnover (Issac and Baral, 2019). In a workplace with high job insecurity, employees may prefer to hide rather than share their hard-earned knowledge, because retaining their competitive advantage may improve their job security (Serenko and Bontis, 2016; Jha and Varkkey, 2018; Feng and Wang, 2019).…”

“…Third, although prior meta-analyses and meta-syntheses have conducted on single CKB behaviors have been useful (Witherspoon et al , 2013; Issac and Baral, 2019), there has been no overview of CKB antecedents that could reveal patterns that may be theoretically and practically beneficial. Whereas prior syntheses have been conducted focusing either on primary quantitative or qualitative studies, this study considered both methods to provide a comprehensive view of a range of antecedents, and categorizing them, that may be taken into account when considering CKB.…”

A trustworthy network or a technologically disguised scam

“…Health chain, which is built upon the foundation of blockchain is a contribution of the IBM Blockchain initiative to the health-care industry. The learnings are transferable to a wide range of industries and can be prudently introduced in finance, manufacturing sectors and even in typical government initiatives where efficiency, security and scalability are the prime requirements (Daniel et al , 2017; Issac and Baral, 2019).…”