Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T05:21:29.824Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Knowledge Hiding and Hider's Innovative Behavior in Chinese Organizations: The Mediating Role of Silence Behavior and the Moderating Role of Zhongyong Thinking

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2022

Liangyong Chen Open the ORCID record for Liangyong Chen [Opens in a new window] ,
Xiaozhen Luo ,
Fei Zhou  and
Tianqi Zhang
Liangyong Chen*
Affiliation:
Huaqiao University, China
Xiaozhen Luo
Affiliation:
Huaqiao University, China
Fei Zhou
Affiliation:
Huaqiao University, China
Tianqi Zhang
Affiliation:
Huaqiao University, China
*
Corresponding author: Liangyong Chen ([email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Drawing from the theory of territorial behavior, this article predicts the explanatory role of silence behavior in the relationship between knowledge hiding and hider's innovative behavior in Chinese organizations, and the potential of Zhongyong thinking in mitigating the detrimental effect of knowledge hiding. Results derived from a time-lagged and multi-source survey support our hypotheses. Specifically, knowledge hiding is negatively associated with the innovative behavior of the hider. Silence behavior mediates the relationship between knowledge hiding and innovative behavior. Meanwhile, Zhongyong thinking moderates the positive relationship between knowledge hiding and silence behavior, as well as the indirect relationship between knowledge hiding and innovative behavior through silence behavior. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed based on these findings.

摘要

基于领地行为理论，本文提出沉默是中国人用于保护知识领地免受侵犯的预期性防御手段，但会抑制知识隐藏者的创新行为。本文同时考察了中庸思维在缓解知识隐藏对创新行为不利影响的可能作用。作者通过自评-他评结合的方式对239对员工-领导进行了三个阶段的问卷调查，结果表明，知识隐藏行为与隐藏者的创新行为有负面作用，而沉默在其中起到了部分中介作用。同时，中庸思维调节了知识隐藏与创新行为之间的直接负向关系以及知识隐藏通过沉默作用于创新行为的间接负向关系。最后，本文讨论了这些研究发现的理论和实践意义。

Keywords

innovative behaviorknowledge hidingsilence behaviortheory of territorial behaviorZhongyong thinking知识隐藏创新行为沉默行为中庸思维领地行为理论
Type
Article
Information
Management and Organization Review , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , June 2022 , pp. 491 - 518
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The International Association for Chinese Management Research

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

ACCEPTED BY Senior Editor Abby Jingzi Zhou

References

REFERENCES

Aiken, L. S., West, S. G., & Reno, R. R. 1991. Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Antonakis, J., Bendahan, S., Jacquart, P., & Lalive, R. 2010. On making causal claims: A review and recommendations. Leadership Quarterly, 21(6): 1086–1120.10.1016/j.leaqua.2010.10.010CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arain, G. A., Bhatti, Z. A., Ashraf, N., & Fang, Y.-H. 2018. Top-down knowledge hiding in organizations: An empirical study of the consequences of supervisor knowledge hiding among local and foreign workers in the Middle East. Journal of Business Ethics, 164: 611–625.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arain, G. A., Bhatti, Z. A., Hameed, I., & Fang, Y.-H. 2019. Top-down knowledge hiding and innovative work behavior (IWB): A three-way moderated-mediation analysis of self-efficacy and local/foreign status. Journal of Knowledge Management, 24(2): 127–149.10.1108/JKM-11-2018-0687CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baer, M. 2012. Putting creativity to work: The implementation of creative ideas in organizations. Academy of Management Journal, 55(5): 1102–1119.10.5465/amj.2009.0470CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. 1986. The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56(6): 1173–1182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bedford, O. 2011. Guanxi-building in the workplace: A dynamic process model of working and backdoor guanxi. Journal of Business Ethics, 104(1): 149–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bock, G. W., Zmud, R. W., Kim, Y. G., & Lee, J. N. 2005. Behavioral intention formation in knowledge sharing: Examining the roles of extrinsic motivators, social-psychological forces, and organizational climate. MIS Quarterly, 29(1): 87–111.10.2307/25148669CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bogilović, S., Černe, M., & Škerlavaj, M. 2017. Hiding behind a mask? Cultural intelligence, knowledge hiding, and individual and team creativity. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 26(5): 710–723.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bosco, F. A., Aguinis, H., Singh, K., Field, J. G., & Pierce, G. A. 2015. Correlational effect size benchmarks. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(2): 431–449.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brinsfield, C. T. 2013. Employee silence motives: Investigation of dimensionality and development of measures. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 34(5): 671–697.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, G., Lawrence, T. B., & Robinson, S. L. 2005. Territoriality in organizations. Academy of Management Review, 30(3): 577–594.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bullinger, A. C., Neyer, A.-K., Rass, M., & Moeslein, K. M. 2010. Community-based innovation contests: Where competition meets cooperation. Creativity and Innovation Management, 19(3): 290–303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burmeister, A., Fasbender, U., & Gerpott, F. H. 2019. Consequences of knowledge hiding: The differential compensatory effects of guilt and shame. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 92(2): 281–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butt, A. S., & Ahmad, A. B. 2019. Are there any antecedents of top-down knowledge hiding in firms? Evidence from the United Arab Emirates. Journal of Knowledge Management, 23(8): 1605–1627.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Černe, M., Hernaus, T., Dysvik, A., & Škerlavaj, M. 2017. The role of multilevel synergistic interplay among team mastery climate, knowledge hiding, and job characteristics in stimulating innovative work behavior. Human Resource Management Journal, 27(2): 281–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Černe, M., Nerstad, C. G. L., Dysvik, A., & Škerlavaj, M. 2014. What goes around comes around: Knowledge hiding, perceived motivational climate, and creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 57(1): 172–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, L. Y. 2021. Survey on employee's behavior in Chinese organization. Available from URL: https://osf.io/uyf3jGoogle Scholar
Chen, L., Li, M., Wu, Y. J., & Chen, C. 2021. The voicer's reactions to voice: An examination of employee voice on perceived organizational status and subsequent innovative behavior in the workplace. Personnel Review, 50(4): 1073–1092.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheung, T.-s., Yang, C.-F., Chiu, C.-Y., King, A. Y.-c., Chan, K.-M., & Chan, H.-M. 2003. On Zhongyong rationality: The Confucian doctrine of the mean as a missing link between instrumental rationality and communicative rationality. Asian Journal of Social Science, 31(1): 107–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chiu, C. Y. 2000. Assessment of Zhong-Yong thinking. Hong Kong Journal of Social Sciences, 18(1): 33–35.Google Scholar
Cohen, J., & Cohen, P. 1983. Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Connelly, C. E., Černe, M., Dysvik, A., & Skerlavaj, M. 2019. Understanding knowledge hiding in organizations. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 40(7): 779–782.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connelly, C. E., Zweig, D., Webster, J., & Trougakos, J. P. 2012. Knowledge hiding in organizations. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 33(1): 64–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Damanpour, F., & Aravind, D. 2012. Managerial innovation: Conceptions, processes and antecedents. Management and Organization Review, 8(2): 423–454.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Das, A. K., & Chakraborty, S. 2018. Knowledge withholding within an organization: The psychological resistance to knowledge sharing linking with territoriality. Journal on Innovation and Sustainability, 9(3): 94–108.Google Scholar
Detert, J. R., & Burris, E. R. 2007. Leadership behavior and employee voice: Is the door really open? Academy of Management Journal, 50(4): 869–884.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duan, J., Bao, C., Huang, C., & Brinsfield, C. T. 2018. Authoritarian leadership and employee silence in China. Journal of Management & Organization, 24(1): 62–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Earley, P. C. 1989. Social loafing and collectivism: A comparison of the United States and the People's Republic of China. Administrative Science Quarterly, 34(4): 565–581.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerpott, F. H., Fasbender, U., & Burmeister, A. 2020. Respectful leadership and followers’ knowledge sharing: A social mindfulness lens. Human Relations, 73(6): 789–810.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gong, Y., Kim, T.-Y., Lee, D.-R., & Zhu, J. 2013. A multilevel model of team goal orientation, information exchange, and creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 56(3): 827–851.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grant, A. M. 2013. Rocking the boat but keeping it steady: The role of emotion regulation in employee voice. Academy of Management Journal, 56(6): 1703–1723.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayes, A. F. 2012. PROCESS: A versatile computational tool for observed variable mediation, moderation, and conditional process modeling. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas.Google Scholar
He, P., Peng, Z., Zhao, H., & Estay, C. 2019. How and when compulsory citizenship behavior leads to employee silence: A moderated mediation model based on moral disengagement and supervisor–subordinate guanxi views. Journal of Business Ethics, 155(1): 259–274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hu, L. T., & Bentler, P. M. 1999. Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6(1): 1–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huo, W., Cai, Z., Luo, J., Men, C., & Jia, R. 2016. Antecedents and intervention mechanisms: A multi-level study of R&D team's knowledge hiding behavior. Journal of Knowledge Management, 20(5): 880–897.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ilies, R., Peng, A. C., Savani, K., & Dimotakis, N. 2013. Guilty and helpful: An emotion-based reparatory model of voluntary work behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(6): 1051–1059.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jahanzeb, S., Fatima, T., Bouckenooghe, D., & Bashir, F. 2019. The knowledge hiding link: A moderated mediation model of how abusive supervision affects employee creativity. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 28(6): 810–819.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jain, A. K. 2015. An interpersonal perspective to study silence in Indian organizations: Investigation of dimensionality and development of measures. Personnel Review, 44(6): 1010–1036.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janssen, O. 2000. Job demands, perceptions of effort-reward fairness and innovative work behaviour. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 73(3): 287–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janssen, O., van de Vliert, E., & West, M. 2004. The bright and dark sides of individual and group innovation: A special issue introduction. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 25(2): 129–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ji, L.-J., Lee, A., & Guo, T. 2010. The thinking styles of Chinese people: The Oxford handbook of Chinese psychology: 155–167. New York: Oxford University Press..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jing, D., Manman, R., & Ping, C. 2014. Context-contingent effect of Zhongyong on employee innovation behavior. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 46(1): 113–124.Google Scholar
Kang, D. 2018. Empirical study on the impact of silence behavior: Taking Chinese organization employees as research objects. Journal of Northeast Asian Studies, 23(4): 213–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kwon, J.-W. 2012. Does China have more than one culture? Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 29(1): 79–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, I. A., & Preacher, K. J. 2013, September. Calculation for the test of the difference between two dependent correlations with one variable in common [Computer software]. Available from URL: http://quantpsy.orgGoogle Scholar
Li, X. 2018. Zhong-Yong as dynamic balancing between Yin-Yang opposites. Cross Cultural & Strategic Management, 25(2): 375–379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lin, R.-M., Hong, Y.-J., Xiao, H.-W., & Lian, R. 2020. Honesty-humility and dispositional awe in Confucian culture: The mediating role of Zhong-Yong thinking style. Personality and Individual Differences, 167: 110228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Madrid, H. P., Patterson, M. G., & Leiva, P. I. 2015. Negative core affect and employee silence: How differences in activation, cognitive rumination, and problem-solving demands matter. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(6): 1887–1898.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maqbool, S., Černe, M., & Bortoluzzi, G. 2019. Micro-foundations of innovation: Employee silence, perceived time pressure, flow and innovative work behaviour. European Journal of Innovation Management, 22(1): 125–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Men, C. H., Fong, P., Luo, J. L., Zhong, J., & Huo, W. W. 2019. When and how knowledge sharing benefits team creativity: The importance of cognitive team diversity. Journal of Management & Organization, 25(6): 807–824.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morrison, E. W., & Milliken, F. J. 2000. Organizational silence: A barrier to change and development in a pluralistic world. Academy of Management Review, 25(4): 706–725.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morrison, E. W., See, K. E., & Pan, C. 2015. An approach-inhibition model of employee silence: The joint effects of personal sense of power and target openness. Personnel Psychology, 68(3): 547–580.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nasser, F., & Wisenbaker, J. 2003. A Monte Carlo study investigating the impact of item parceling on measures of fit in confirmatory factor analysis. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 63(5): 729–757.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nechanska, E., Hughes, E., & Dundon, T. 2020. Towards an integration of employee voice and silence. Human Resource Management Review, 30(1): 100674.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ning, B., Omar, R., Ye, Y., Ting, H., & Ning, M. 2021. The role of Zhong-Yong thinking in business and management research: A review and future research agenda. Asia Pacific Business Review, 27(2): 150–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pan, W., & Sun, L.-Y. 2018. A self-regulation model of Zhong Yong thinking and employee adaptive performance. Management and Organization Review, 14(1): 135–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peng, H. 2013. Why and when do people hide knowledge? Journal of Knowledge Management, 17(3): 398–415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perry-Smith, J. E. 2006. Social yet creative: The role of social relationships in facilitating individual creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 49(1): 85–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Lee, J.-Y., & Podsakoff, N. P. 2003. Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5): 879–903.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pradhan, S., Srivastava, A., & Mishra, D. K. 2019. Abusive supervision and knowledge hiding: The mediating role of psychological contract violation and supervisor directed aggression. Journal of Knowledge Management, 24(2): 216–234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Preacher, K. J., Rucker, D. D., & Hayes, A. F. 2007. Addressing moderated mediation hypotheses: Theory, methods, and prescriptions. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 42(1): 185–227.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Qu, Y., Wu, W., Tang, F., Si, H., & Xia, Y. 2018. Why do I conform to your ideas?: The role of coworkers’ regulatory focus in explaining the influence of zhongyong on harmony voice. Chinese Management Studies, 12(2): 346–368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rhee, Y. W., & Choi, J. N. 2017. Knowledge management behavior and individual creativity: Goal orientations as antecedents and in-group social status as moderating contingency. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 38(6): 813–832.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ringle, C. M., Wende, S., & Becker, J. 2015. SmartPLS 3. Bönningstedt: SmartPLS.Google Scholar
Rodríguez-Gómez, D., & Gairín, J. 2015. Unravelling knowledge creation and management in educational organisations: Barriers and enablers. Knowledge Management Research & Practice, 13(2): 149–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryan, T. P. 1997. Modern regression methods. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Scott, S. G., & Bruce, R. A. 1994. Determinants of innovative behavior: A path model of individual innovation in the workplace. Academy of Management Journal, 37(3): 580–607.Google Scholar
Serenko, A., & Bontis, N. 2016. Understanding counterproductive knowledge behavior: Antecedents and consequences of intra-organizational knowledge hiding. Journal of Knowledge Management, 20(6): 1199–1224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sethibe, T., & Steyn, R. 2016. Organizational climate, innovation and performance: A systematic review. Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, 2(2): 161–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shaver, J. M. 2005. Testing for mediating variables in management research: Concerns, implications, and alternative strategies. Journal of Management, 31(3): 330–353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singh, S. K. 2019. Territoriality, task performance, and workplace deviance: Empirical evidence on role of knowledge hiding. Journal of Business Research, 97: 10–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stajkovic, A. D., & Luthans, F. 2001. Differential effects of incentive motivators on work performance. Academy of Management Journal, 44(3): 580–590.Google Scholar
Tangirala, S., & Ramanujam, R. 2008. Employee silence on critical work issues: The cross level effects of procedural justice climate. Personnel Psychology, 61(1): 37–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tierney, P., Farmer, S. M., & Graen, G. B. 1999. An examination of leadership and employee creativity: The relevance of traits and relationships. Personnel Psychology, 52(3): 591–620.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsai, W. 2001. Knowledge transfer in intraorganizational networks: Effects of network position and absorptive capacity on business unit innovation and performance. Academy of Management Journal, 44(5): 996–1004.Google Scholar
Wang, S., & Noe, R. A. 2010. Knowledge sharing: A review and directions for future research. Human Resource Management Review, 20(2): 115–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, H., Wu, W., Liu, Y., Hao, S., & Wu, S. 2019. In what ways do Chinese employees speak up? An exchange approach to supervisor-subordinate guanxi and voice behavior. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 30(3): 479–501.Google Scholar
Wu, C.-h., & Lin, Y.-C. 2005. Development of a Zhong-Yong thinking style scale. Indigenous Psychological Research in Chinese Societies, 24: 247–300.Google Scholar
Xiao, M., & Cooke, F. L. 2019. Why and when knowledge hiding in the workplace is harmful: A review of the literature and directions for future research in the Chinese context. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 57(4): 470–502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yang, Z. F. 2010. The initial development of exploratory research in Zhong Yong practical thinking system. Indigenous Psychology Research (Taiwan), 34.Google Scholar
Yang, X., Zhang, P., Zhao, J., Zhao, J., Wang, J., Chen, Y., Ding, S., & Zhang, X. 2016. Confucian culture still matters: The benefits of Zhongyong thinking (doctrine of the mean) for mental health. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 47(8): 1097–1113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yao, X., Yang, Q., Dong, N., & Wang, L. 2010. Moderating effect of Zhong Yong on the relationship between creativity and innovation behaviour. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 13(1): 53–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yuan, F., & Woodman, R. W. 2010. Innovative behavior in the workplace: The role of performance and image outcome expectations. Academy of Management Journal, 53(2): 323–342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zare, M., & Flinchbaugh, C. 2019. Voice, creativity, and big five personality traits: A meta-analysis. Human Performance, 32(1): 30–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, X., & Zhou, J. 2014. Empowering leadership, uncertainty avoidance, trust, and employee creativity: Interaction effects and a mediating mechanism. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 124(2): 150–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhou, Z., Zhang, H., Li, M., Sun, C., & Luo, H. 2021. The effects of Zhongyong thinking priming on creative problem-solving. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 55(1): 145–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar