You reap what you sow: knowledge hiding, territorial and idea implementation

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to build a research model from the perspectives of knowledge hiding and idea implementation to examine what factors influence idea implementation and the cross-level moderating role of team territory climate.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from universities, 52 (R&D) teams in China via a two-wave survey. The final sample contained 209 team members and their immediate supervisors. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to test hypotheses.FindingsThe results indicated that individuals’ knowledge-hiding behavior had a significantly negative impact on idea implementation and creative process engagement, which played a mediating role. Team territorial climate played a cross-level moderating role between knowledge hiding and idea implementation. If team territorial climate was at a high level, then the negative connection between knowledge hiding and idea implementation would be weaker.Research limitations/implicationsUnder the perspective of territorial behavior in Chinese cultural, it can help to distinguish territorial behavior and be preventive at individual and team levels. This study not only enables managers to clearly understand the precipitating factors of idea implementation but also provides constructive strategies for alleviating the negative effects of knowledge territoriality on creative process engagement and idea implementation.Originality/valueThis study constructs a cross-level model to explore the relationship among knowledge hiding, creative process engagement and idea implementation at individual and team levels in the context of Chinese R&D enterprises. Additionally, the study analyzes the influence of territoriality on idea implementation under boundary conditions.

The transmission mechanism of idea generation on idea implementation: team knowledge territoriality perspective

“…Team members might generate knowledge, which is also the teams' psychological cognition, signifies team knowledge. A crucial feature of knowledge territoriality is boundary demarcation, which should be considered (Li et al, 2020). If the boundary itself is needed to have one or two-way infiltration function, compatibility should be present between internal and external resources or information, and the boundary can be moved and integrated with other people's boundaries according to needs (Ashforth et al, 2000).…”

“…Team knowledge territoriality denotes the representation of team members' ownership claim for valued organization objects (Li et al, 2020). When individuals perceive defensive behavior from outsiders, they differentiate the roles, tasks and boundaries between teams, as well as highlight the consistency of within-team members (Brown et al, 2014).…”

“…For instance, marking work areas does not enable outsiders to get close and keeping the task progress a secret (Peng, 2013). Such behaviors are in conformity with territorial characteristics (Fan et al, 2018;Li et al, 2020).…”

“…The existing literature provides reference and guidance for a comprehensive investigation of knowledge territoriality and innovation, demonstrating that knowledge territoriality has a positive or negative effect, as well as highlighting the differences across cultures (Peng, 2013;Brown et al, 2014;Huo et al, 2017;Li et al, 2020). From the individual standpoint, the positive view is that employees with strong territoriality have the mindset of nonaggression and non-interference, which reduces task conflicts and innovation risk, as well as stimulating individual creativity (Brown et al, 2005;Peng and Pierce, 2015).…”

“…Indeed, some scholars contended that the territorial climate of group or organization is easier to strengthen the individual territoriality. The strong territorial climate easily creates some conflicts among team members, which is nonconducive to team cooperation, team trust and innovation (Fan et al, 2018;Li et al, 2020). However, others reported that it is feasible to decrease individual territoriality by strengthening group territoriality.…”