My knowledge: The negative impact of territorial feelings on employee's own innovation through knowledge hiding

Abstract

Innovation is critical for organizational success but innovation often depends on employee's willingness to share, which they surprisingly are not always willing to do despite potential negative costs to the individuals who hide information. Drawing on psychological ownership theory, we explain how knowledge engenders territorial feelings and leads employees to hide knowledge. Using social exchange theory, we explain how certain types of knowledge hiding behavior negatively impact the hider by reducing their own innovation. To explore potential mitigating factors, we proposed that affect-based trust alleviates the relationship between territorial feelings and knowledge hiding and buffers the harmful effect of territorial feelings on innovative behavior. We tested the model in two studies: a pilot study of 133 full-time employees (Study 1) and a two-wave investigation of 30 supervisors and 240 employees (Study 2). Results revealed that (a) territorial feelings positively influenced evasive hiding and playing dumb but not rationalized hiding, (b) evasive hiding and playing dumb mediated the link between territorial feelings and innovative behavior, (c) affect-based trust moderated the relationship between territorial feelings and evasive hiding as well as the indirect effects of territorial feelings on employee innovative behavior via evasive hiding. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.