2022/03/11 by Yunita Sofyan, Dirk De Clercq, Yufan Shang
Business, Management and Accounting · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Business #Competition (biology) #Competitive advantage #Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies #Human resource management #Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior #Knowledge Management and Sharing #Knowledge management #Marketing #Mediation #Moderated mediation #Originality #Psychology #Social psychology #Sociology
paper · doi:10.1108/pr-04-2021-0294
crossref issued 2022/03/11 · crossref published 2022/03/11 · crossref published-online 2022/03/11 · openalex publication_date 2022/03/11 · crossref created 2022/03/14 · crossref published-print 2023/05/02 · crossref deposited 2025/07/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01 · crossref indexed 2026/08/01
Purpose This study examines whether employees' perceptions of intraorganizational competition, defined as beliefs that the organization evaluates their performance in comparison with others, result in lower supervisor ratings of their conscientiousness if the employees, particularly those with proactive personalities, respond to the resource-draining, competitive work situation with knowledge hiding behavior. Design/methodology/approach Multisource data were collected from employees and supervisors in different industries at three points in time. The research hypotheses were tested with hierarchical multiple regression analysis, in combination with PROCESS macro-based bootstrapping, to assess mediation and moderated mediation. Findings Beliefs about highly competitive organizational climates are counterproductive, in that they lead employees to conceal knowledge intentionally from other organizational members. This mediating role of knowledge concealment is particularly prominent among employees with a strong desire to take the initiative to protect themselves against the hardships created by a climate of internal competition. Research limitations/implications The research design does not allow for formal tests of causality. Practical implications For human resource managers, this research pinpoints self-protective knowledge hiding as a key, detrimental mechanism. It imposes dual harms: employees feel threatened by the strict performance-oriented climate, and their defensive reactions make them appear less conscientious to supervisors. This downward spiral is particularly likely to initiate among employees who exhibit a disposition toward action. Originality/value This research investigates novel connections between specific organizational elements and outcomes, by specifying why and when employees' beliefs about performance-oriented organizational climates might backfire, due to their negative behavioral responses, such as purposeful knowledge hiding.