Gender dynamics in knowledge hiding and occupational stress on employee performance

This study is novel to explore the concept of competing variables, considering knowledge hiding (KH), occupational stress (OS) and employee performance (EP) from the lens of gender, which has not been previously studied. It also offers a mathematical objectivity and establish numerical significance between variables of interest. This study aims to investigates the male and female employees' performance affected by occupational stress and knowledge hiding in the Service sector. Cross sectional research design was used because data was gathered in less than one year while comparing two contrasting genders. PLS-SEM was used for quantitative analysis to gain mathematical objectivity, and the data was gathered through semi-structured matrix-based questionnaire. Purposive, quota and networking sampling techniques were employed. Findings revealed that occupational stress and Knowledge hiding negatively affect the performance of the male and female employees, irrespective of the type of service sector. Funnel approach revealed that females showed higher knowledge hiding (KH) in comparison to male. Moreover, the comparison also revealed that in contrast to occupational stress, knowledge hiding is more affecting the employees’ performance. Lastly, an unfriendly environment is the result of knowledge hiding which leads to the development of higher depression and anxiety, those also affect performance negatively.