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“Articulating Cognizance About What to Hide What not": Insights into Why and When Ethical Leadership Regulates Employee Knowledge-Hiding Behaviors

Author

Listed:
  • Moazzam Ali

    (COMSATS University Islamabad)

  • Muhammad Usman

    (University of Hertfordshire)

  • Muhammad Aamir Shafique Khan

    (Jiangsu University)

  • Imran Shafique

    (COMSATS University Islamabad)

  • Farooq Mughal

    (University of Bath)

Abstract

Given the dearth of research examining the distinctions across various facets of employee knowledge-hiding (KH) behaviors, there is little known about why and when leadership negatively influences playing dumb and evasive hiding but positively influences rationalized hiding. The present study fills this void by hypothesizing that employee justice orientation (JO) acts as a mediator of the associations of ethical leadership (EL) with different facets of employee KH behaviors. We also propose employee conscientiousness moderates the relationship of EL with JO and the indirect relationships of ethical leadership with distinct variants of employee KH behaviors. The results based on time-lagged data from 387 employees provide support for the hypothesized relationships. Together, our research provides a more nuanced account of the influence of leadership on employee KH behaviors that can facilitate the development of more appropriate interventions to deal with the intricate problems related to employee KH behaviors.

Suggested Citation

  • Moazzam Ali & Muhammad Usman & Muhammad Aamir Shafique Khan & Imran Shafique & Farooq Mughal, 2024. "“Articulating Cognizance About What to Hide What not": Insights into Why and When Ethical Leadership Regulates Employee Knowledge-Hiding Behaviors," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 190(4), pages 885-895, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:190:y:2024:i:4:d:10.1007_s10551-023-05426-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-023-05426-9
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    References listed on IDEAS

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