The rhetoric of “knowledge hoarding”: a research-based critique

Knowledge hiding in the academia: Individual and social factors predicting knowledge hiding behaviour of undergraduates of a Nigerian university

This study examined the knowledge hiding behaviour (KHB) of undergraduates of a university in southwestern, Nigeria, as well as the individual and social factors influencing their knowledge hiding behaviour. The study adopted the descriptive survey design. Random sampling was used to select 390 undergraduates across the faculties of the university. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Findings revealed that the undergraduates engaged in knowledge hiding. The study also identified the various methods the students used to hide knowledge, among which are pretense of lack of knowledge, avoiding interactive classes, reading alone and unwillingness to release lecture notes, among others. The results show that the individual factors (distrust and psychological ownership), as well as the social factors (negative or lack of mutual reciprocity, lack of social interaction and lack of social identification), predicted the KHB of the students. The study concluded that the undergraduates engaged in knowledge hiding in so many ways and for many reasons. The individual factors of the students, as well as the social factors surrounding them, predicted their KHB. The study made some recommendations for research and practice.

Towards a foundational KM theory: a culture-based perspective

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that influence knowledge processes and by extension organisational knowledge culture (KC).

Design/methodology/approach

Using a systematic model development approach based on an extensive literature review, the authors explore the notion of organisational KC and conceptualise a model that addresses the following research question: what factors affect employees’ values and beliefs about knowledge processes and by extension organisational KC?

Findings

This paper proposes that knowledge processes are interrelated and mutually enforcing activities, and that employee perceptions of various individual, group and organisational factors underpin employee values and beliefs about knowledge processes and help shape an organisation’s KC.

Research limitations/implications

The findings extend the understanding of the concept of KC and may point the way towards a unifying theory of knowledge management (KM) that can better account for the complexity and multi-dimensionality of knowledge processes and KC.

Practical implications

The paper provides important practical implications by explicitly accounting for the cultural aspects of the inextricably interrelated nature of the most common knowledge processes in KM initiatives.

Originality/value

KM research has examined a long and varied list of knowledge processes. This has arguably resulted in KM theorizing being fragmented or disintegrated. Whilst it is evident that organisational culture affects persons’ behaviour in the organisation, the impact of persons’ values and beliefs on knowledge processes as a whole remain understudied. This study provides a model of KC. Moreover, the paper offers a novel systematic approach to developing conceptual and theoretical models.

The Impact of Language Diversity on Knowledge Sharing Within International University Research Teams: Evidence From TED Project

In today's knowledge economy, knowledge and knowledge sharing are fundamental for organizations to achieve competitiveness and for individuals to strengthen their innovation capabilities. Knowledge sharing is a complex language-based activity; language affects how individuals communicate and relate. The growth in international collaborations and the increasing number of diverse teams affect knowledge sharing because individuals engage in daily knowledge activities in a language they are not native speakers. Understanding the challenges they face, and how they manage the emerging difficulties is the main aim of this manuscript. For this purpose, an explorative case study was conducted in an international university research project, namely the TED project. Both interviews and direct observations were employed to understand the phenomenon better and deliberately triangulate data and improve validity. Results show that non-native language use determines the emergence of different language proficiency, depending on the nature of the knowledge domain-job-related vs. non-job-related. Within non-job-related knowledge domains, the lack of linguistic abilities, summed to the perceived cultural diversities, mainly affects people's propensity to engage in personal and more intense social relationships. Under such circumstances, tacit knowledge sharing is reduced with negative consequences on the project's long-term innovative performance. Since the project is still running, detecting language challenges will allow the partners to design and apply effective measures to support cooperation with language and cultural barriers. Among them, code switching, adopted by "bridge" actors, already emerges as tool supporting communication and knowledge exchange.

Institutional isomorphism in collaborative, cross-cultural, project-based development work: an inquiry into the knowledge sharing behaviour of volunteers

Purpose

Using an institutionalist lens, this study aims to identify factors that influence the knowledge sharing behaviour of volunteers engaged in collaborative, cross-cultural and project-focussed development work.

Design/methodology/approach

Following an inductive research design, the authors conducted a thematic analysis of interviews with volunteers to explore the practicalities of knowledge sharing in the context of development aid projects and to examine contributing factors, such as personality, motivations, experience and variations in team members’ understanding of the nature and objective of projects.

Findings

Through exploring the experiences of volunteers working on cross-cultural development aid programmes, the authors identify and discuss the ways in which the preparation of volunteers and the structuring of project work is shaped by managerialist modes of thinking, with an emphasis on the creation of an environment that is conducive to sustainable knowledge sharing practices for all stakeholders involved.

Originality/value

The examination of volunteer development work tendency towards institutional isomorphism is a novel contribution intersecting the areas of knowledge sharing in the project, volunteer-led and culturally diverse environments.

Understanding knowledge hiding in the context of virtual workplaces

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the implications of virtual work arrangements on employee knowledge hiding (KH) behaviour and the different strategies of KH used by employees in these arrangements.

Design/methodology/approach

Following a grounded theory approach to understanding KH, 21 semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with employees engaged in virtual working setups. The data collected from these informants were then analysed using qualitative methods.

Findings

The study revealed that virtual work arrangements increase employee KH behaviour because of three reasons: ease of hiding, digital burnout and loss of control. Further, the study found that rationalized hiding is the most commonly adopted strategy by employees engaged in virtual work arrangements, while inclinations towards evasive hiding strategy decrease in this arrangement.

Originality/value

This is the first study in knowledge management literature that seeks to explain KH in the virtual work context.

A structured literature review of scientometric research of the knowledge management discipline: a 2021 update

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to conduct a structured literature review of scientometric research of the knowledge management (KM) discipline for the 2012–2019 time period.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 175 scientometric studies of the KM discipline were identified and analyzed.

Findings

Scientometric KM research has entered the maturity stage: its volume has been growing, reaching six publications per month in 2019. Scientometric KM research has become highly specialized, which explains many inconsistent findings, and the interests of scientometric KM researchers and their preferred inquiry methods have changed over time. There is a dangerous trend toward a monopoly of the scholarly publishing market which affects researchers’ behavior. To create a list of keywords for database searches, scientometric KM scholars should rely on the formal KM keyword classification schemes, and KM-centric peer-reviewed journals should continue welcoming manuscripts on scientometric topics.

Practical implications

Stakeholders should realize that the KM discipline may successfully exist as a cluster of divergent schools of thought under an overarching KM umbrella and that the notion of intradisciplinary cohesion and consistency should be abandoned. Journal of Knowledge Management is unanimously recognized as a leading KM journal, but KM researchers should not limit their focus to the body of knowledge documented in the KM-centric publication forums. The top six most productive countries are the USA, the UK, Taiwan, Canada, Australia and China. There is a need for knowledge brokers that may deliver the KM academic body of knowledge to practitioners.

Originality/value

This is the most comprehensive, up-to-date analysis of the KM discipline.

Knowledge sabotage as an extreme form of counterproductive knowledge behavior: the perspective of the target

Purpose

This study aims to explore the existence of knowledge sabotage in the contemporary organization from the perspective of the target.

Design/methodology/approach

This study collected and analyzed 172 critical incidents reported by 109 employees who were targets of knowledge sabotage in their organizations.

Findings

Over 50 per cent of employees experienced at least one knowledge sabotage incident. Knowledge sabotage is driven by three factors, namely, gratification, retaliation against other employees and one’s malevolent personality. Knowledge saboteurs are more likely to provide intangible than tangible knowledge. Knowledge sabotage results in extremely negative consequences for individuals, organizations and third parties. Organizations often indirectly facilitate knowledge sabotage among their employees. Both knowledge saboteurs and their targets believe in their innocence – saboteurs are certain that their action was a necessary response to targets’ inappropriate workplace behavior, whereas targets insist on their innocence and hold saboteurs solely responsible.

Practical implications

Organizations should recruit employees with compatible personalities and working styles, introduce inter-employee conflict prevention and resolution procedures, develop anti-knowledge sabotage policies, clearly articulate the individual and organizational consequences of knowledge sabotage and eliminate zero-sum game-based incentives and rewards.

Originality/value

This is the first study documenting knowledge sabotage from the target’s perspective.

Knowledge sabotage as an extreme form of counterproductive knowledge behavior: conceptualization, typology, and empirical demonstration

Purpose

This paper introduces the concept of knowledge sabotage as an extreme form of counterproductive knowledge behavior, presents its typology, and empirically demonstrates its existence in the contemporary organization.

Design/methodology/approach

Through the application of the critical incident technique, this study analyzes 177 knowledge sabotage incidents when employees intentionally provided others with wrong knowledge or deliberately concealed critical knowledge while clearly realizing others’ need for this knowledge and others’ ability to apply it to important work-related tasks.

Findings

Over 40% of employees engaged in knowledge sabotage, and many did so repeatedly. Knowledge saboteurs usually acted against their fellow co-workers, and one-half of all incidents were caused by interpersonal issues resulting from the target’s hostile behavior, failure to provide assistance to others, and poor performance. Knowledge sabotage was often expressed in the form of revenge against a particular individual, who, as a result, may have been reprimanded, humiliated or terminated. Knowledge saboteurs rarely regretted their behavior, which further confirmed the maliciousness of their intentions.

Practical implications

Even though knowledge saboteurs only rarely acted against their organizations purposely, approximately one-half of all incidents produced negative, unintentional consequences to their organizations, such as time waste, failed or delayed projects, lost clients, unnecessary expenses, hiring costs, products being out-of-stock, understaffing, or poor quality of products or services. Organizations should develop comprehensive knowledge sabotage prevention policies. The best way to reduce knowledge sabotage is to improve inter-personal relationships among employees and to foster a friendly and collaborative environment.

Originality/value

This is the first well-documented attempt to understand the phenomenon of knowledge sabotage.

A public goods model of outcomes from online knowledge sharing mediated by mental model processing

Purpose

This study aims to take a public goods approach to understand relationships between collecting and contributing knowledge to an online knowledge sharing portal (KSP), mental model processing and outcomes at the individual and collective levels.

Design/methodology/approach

This study reports on a survey (N = 602) among tax professionals, examining the perceived individual and collective benefits and costs associated with collecting and contributing knowledge. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling.

Findings

Collecting and contributing knowledge led to considerable mental model processing of the knowledge. That in turn significantly influenced (primarily) individual and (some) collective costs and benefits. Results varied by the kinds of knowledge sharing. Whether directly from knowledge sharing, or mediated through mental modeling, the perceived costs and benefits may be internalized as an individual good rather than being interpreted at the collective level as a public good.

Research limitations/implications

The study is situated in the early stages of a wiki-type online KSP. A focus on the learning potential of the system could serve to draw in new users and contributors, heightening perceptions of the public goods dimension of a KSP.

Practical implications

A focus on the learning potential of the system could serve to draw in new users, and thus the number of subsequent contributors, heightening perceptions of the collective, public goods dimension of a KSP.

Originality/value

This study explores how knowledge sharing and mental model processing are directly and indirectly associated with individual and collective costs and benefits. As online knowledge sharing is both an individual and public good, costs and benefits must be considered from both perspectives.

The role of a knowledge leader in a changing organizational environment. A conceptual framework drawn by an analysis of four large companies

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of knowledge leader readiness within large companies operating in a changing environment.

Design/methodology/approach

A conceptual framework emerged from an analysis of four large companies and a review of the knowledge management literature. Secondary research was conducted to compare the four large companies against the proposed framework.

Findings

The conceptual model is a support to understand an organizations’ reaction to external changes and the role of the knowledge leader’s readiness in managing these changes and adjusting the knowledge management accordingly. From the analysis, it emerged that a knowledge leader’s readiness plays a relevant role in a changing organizational environment owing to his ability to acquire, handle and diffuse knowledge within the company.

Practical implications

The study emphasizes the significance of internal knowledge in managing changes. Practitioners could use this framework as a conceptual guide for their daily challenges and to recruit future leaders.

Originality/value

This study aims to contribute to the knowledge management literature by providing a practical model for organizations facing a changing environment. The originality of the model is the design of different managerial profiles that combine the leaders’ disposition to knowledge and their ability to drive change.