Knowledge Hiding in Organizations: Meta-Analysis 10 Years Later

Abstract

A decade since the seminal paper on knowledge hiding in organizations (Connelly et al., 2012) emerged, this research area has witnessed rapid evolution, resulting in a fragmentation of the field and conceptual proliferation. Given the increasing interest in knowledge hiding, this study complements a set of recently published (systematic) literature reviews and proposes an organizing framework (nomological network) for antecedents and consequences of knowledge hiding, and tests it using meta-analytic procedures. Based on an effect analysis drawn from 131 studies and 147 samples, comprising 47,348 participants, the relationships between knowledge hiding and different antecedent and consequence categories are examined. The results generally support expected relationships across the vast majority of categories of knowledge-hiding antecedents, including job characteristics, leadership, attitudes and motivations, working context, personality, and individual differences. Knowledge hiding is related to outcomes, including creativity, task performance, incivility, deviance, and deterioration of workplace behavior. We also provide comprehensive empirical evidence to support the conceptual claim that knowledge hiding is not correlated with knowledge sharing. We have also tested mediations of the most salient antecedents of knowledge hiding. Through our meta-analytic review, we hope to solidify and redirect the trajectory of the growing and maturing knowledge-hiding domain after its first decade of existence.