Research on the influence mechanism of creative time pressure on employee knowledge hiding: Evidence from creative service enterprises in China

Abstract

Employee knowledge sharing is critical to the success of creative service enterprises. However, knowledge hiding is prevalent in creative service enterprises. Using 381 advertising agency employees as respondents, we explored the mechanism of action of creative time pressure affecting knowledge hiding. We constructed a regulated dual-path model by drawing on affective event theory, with work passion as a mediating variable and team psychological safety climate as a moderating variable. The results show that creative time pressure increases employees’ knowledge hiding; creative time pressure mitigates knowledge hiding through the effect of harmonious passion, while obsessive passion enhances employees’ knowledge hiding; team psychological safety climate can regulate the relationship between creative time pressure and two types of work passion and the strength of the two paths. Therefore, the mediating effect of harmonious passion is stronger in a high team psychological safety climate, while the mediating effect of obsessive passion is stronger in a low team psychological safety climate.

How time pressure is associated with knowledge sharing: a dual-path mechanism study

“…Time pressure is the pressure caused by requiring employees to complete their work with limited time resources in the workplace (Baer and Oldham, 2006; Sacramento et al , 2013; Bakker, et al , 2014; Chen et al , 2022). Time pressure exerts a double-edged effect.…”

“…The organization’s competitive advantage lies in learning and integrating, sharing and creating knowledge faster and more effectively than its competitors (Cummings, 2004; Van Den Hooff and De Ridder, 2004). Nevertheless, the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of the market not only present organizations with unprecedented challenges but also create immense time pressure for employees (Chen et al , 2022; Škerlavaj et al , 2018; Zhang et al , 2021). Organizations must grasp the market information in a short time, comprehend customer needs and develop new products.…”

“…It is worth mentioning that time has been regarded as an important resource affecting knowledge sharing. In addition, there are different methods to measure the time pressure, such as the degree of perceived time pressure (Beck and Schmidt, 2013; Chen et al , 2022; Connelly et al , 2014; Škerlavaj et al , 2018), the control and deadline of time (Khedhaouria et al , 2017; Kunzelmann and Rigotti, 2021) and the nature of time pressure (Chong et al , 2011; Zhang et al , 2021). These are possible reasons for inconsistent conclusions about time pressure and knowledge-based behavior.…”

“…Nguyen et al (2019) proposed a multilevel model of knowledge sharing influenced by individual, social, technological and organizational factors. In addition, time pressure was considered a situational factor in knowledge sharing (Chen et al , 2022; Škerlavaj et al , 2018; Zhang et al , 2021). The conservation of resources theory proposes that individuals use the existing resources to acquire new resources and decrease the loss of resources in stressful situations (Hobfoll et al , 2018).…”

“…Thus, it is helpful to elucidate the different influence of time pressure on knowledge sharing from the nature of CTP−HTP stress (Chong et al , 2011). However, the time pressure was mostly measured by one single dimension (Chen et al , 2022; Rezwan et al , 2021; Škerlavaj et al , 2018; Urbach and Weigelt, 2019). Zhang et al (2021) classified time pressure into CTP and HTP, investigated the relationship between time pressure and knowledge hiding and appealed for more studies to consider situational factors of knowledge-based behavior.…”