Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

11-2024

Abstract

PurposeThe recent COVID-19 pandemic caused a severe economic downturn. Employees working in these organisations face employment uncertainty. The pandemic disrupted their daily routines, and it added a layer of complexity to the already resource-constrained environment. During these times, employees would conserve their resources to maintain competitiveness, one of which is knowledge hiding. While economic activities are resuming, the appearance of new variants could mean the transition towards endemicity could be put on hold. Hence, there is a need to rethink the behaviour of employees as they would have elevated levels of anxiety towards resuming daily work activities. Therefore, this study aims to address the question of understanding employees’ perspectives toward knowledge sharing and knowledge hiding.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on the conservation of resources theory, social learning theory and the social exchange theory (SET), a conceptual framework involving ethical leadership was developed to examine if knowledge hiding or knowledge sharing behaviour is a resource for employees during these times. The partial least squares method of structural equation modelling was used to analyse results from 271 white-collar employees from Singapore.FindingsThe results show that ethical leadership encourages knowledge sharing but does not reduce knowledge hiding. At the same time, knowledge hiding, not knowledge sharing, improves one’s perception of work performance. Additionally, psychological safety is the key construct that reduces knowledge hiding and encourages sharing behaviour.Originality/valueOverall, this study extends the theories, demonstrating that, first and foremost, knowledge hiding is a form of resource that provides employees with an added advantage in work performance during the endemic. At the same time, we provide a new perspective that ethical leaders’ demonstration of integrity, honesty and altruism alone is insufficient to encourage knowledge sharing or reduce knowledge hiding. It must lead to a psychologically safe environment.

Keywords

COVID-19, Singapore, Knowledge hiding, Knowledge sharing, Psychological safety, Ethical leadership, White-collar employees

Discipline

Management Information Systems

Publication

VINE Journal of Information and Knowledge Management Systems

Volume

54

Issue

6

First Page

1315

Last Page

1341

ISSN

2059-5891

Identifier

10.1108/VJIKMS-04-2022-0123

Publisher

Emerald

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

External URL

https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85138362878&doi=10.1108%2fVJIKMS-04-2022-0123&partnerID=40&md5=92c5a12bf434eea5a1a77f054afccd64

Comments

student pub

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1108/VJIKMS-04-2022-0123

Download

Share

COinS