Negative Work Attitudes and Task Performance: Mediating Role of Knowledge Hiding and Moderating Role of Servant Leadership

Remote, Disconnected, or Detached? Examining the Effects of Psychological Disconnectedness and Cynicism on Employee Performance, Wellbeing, and Work-Family Interface

Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations worldwide have implemented remote working arrangements that have blurred the work-family boundaries and brought to the forefront employees' sense of disconnectedness from their workplace (i.e., organizational disconnectedness) as a concern for multiple organizational outcomes. Cynicism, a job burnout subdimension, refers to a negative and excessively detached response to relational overload at work. While both workplace disconnectedness and cynicism involve a toxic sense of detachment, they refer to different psychological mechanisms. The present study aims to examine how employee workplace disconnectedness differs from their cynicism, and how both constructs differentially exert their detrimental effects on employee performance, work-family interface, and wellbeing. Using anonymous survey data collected online in 2021 and 2022 from a sample of in-person and flexible workers nested within organizations, conceptual distinctiveness between workplace disconnectedness and cynicism was supported. Measurement invariance across the two groups was supported, and subsequent structural invariance analyses suggested a similar pattern of results for flexible and in-person workers. Specifically, compared to disconnectedness, cynicism exerted higher negative effects on mental health and higher positive effects on cognitive failures and family-to-work conflict. Conversely, compared to cynicism, disconnectedness exerted higher negative effects on performance and work-to-family conflict. That is, feeling indifferent toward others particularly affects mental health and errors, while feeling excluded especially hampers productivity and family life. Theoretical and practical (e.g., inclusive leadership, support groups) implications of these results are discussed in light of the globally rising rates of hybrid work arrangements and related costs for employee wellbeing and productivity.

The impact of entrepreneurial team psychological capital on innovation performance: The mediating role of knowledge sharing and knowledge hiding

Introduction

The important role of psychological capital on corporate innovation has attracted the attention of academics, more and more scholars have conducted related studies. Although most scholars have explored the mechanisms and paths of psychological capital on innovation performance, few scholars have explored the inner relationship between them from the perspective of knowledge management. Based on the knowledge management perspective, We explore the influence effect of the psychological capital of entrepreneurial teams on the innovation performance of startups in the entrepreneurial situation.

Methods

We conducted hypothesis testing using data from 113 Chinese entrepreneurial teams, and conducted reliability analysis, correlation analysis, and regression analysis on the questionnaire data with the help of SPSS software and AMOS software.

Results

The results showed that (1) entrepreneurial team psychological capital has a significant positive effect on innovation performance of startups; (2) entrepreneurial team psychological capital positively promotes their knowledge sharing behavior and reduces knowledge hiding behavior; (3) entrepreneurial team knowledge sharing and knowledge hiding play a partially mediating role between entrepreneurial team psychological capital and innovation performance of startups; (4)organizational innovation climate plays a moderating role in the influence of entrepreneurial team knowledge sharing and knowledge hiding on the innovation performance of startups.

Discussion

The findings are consistent with the hypothesis model proposed in this paper, indicating that as the psychological capital of entrepreneurial teams increases, the innovation performance of startups can benefit from higher levels of knowledge sharing and lower levels of knowledge hiding.

The Impact of Job Insecurity on Knowledge-Hiding Behavior: The Mediating Role of Organizational Identification and the Buffering Role of Coaching Leadership

As the global economic situation deteriorates due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, the business environment is plagued by uncertainty and risk. To address this, many organizations have sought to optimize efficiency, especially by downsizing and restructuring, to reduce costs. This causes anxiety among employees, who worry about whether they will be fired. We hypothesize that such job insecurity increases knowledge-hiding behavior by employees, and we investigate the mechanism underlying such a negative effect. In addition, we attempt to capture the boundary conditions of how to reduce the adverse effects of job insecurity, focusing on the role of coaching leadership. Using three-wave time-lagged cohort-study data from 346 Korean workers, we empirically found that employees who perceive job insecurity are less likely to feel organizational identification, leading to increased knowledge-hiding behavior. This study also demonstrated that coaching leadership operates as a boundary condition which buffers the negative influence of job insecurity on organizational identification. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Knowledge “hiding and seeking” during the pandemic: who really wins in the new normal?

Purpose

The 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/approach

Drawing 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.

Findings

The 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/value

Overall, 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.