Antecedents and Consequences of Knowledge Hiding Behavior:An Empirical Study of Public Sector Organization

Knowledge hiding behavior is a stimulating concept, which adversely affect performance of public organizations. it discourages the creativity, effectiveness of teamwork and collaboration efficiency in organizations, particularly in public sector. Conversely, knowledge management is an important resource for the success and sustainable growth in any organizations. However, the research on the antecedents and the consequences of knowledge hiding behavior in public organizations is limited. During the past decade, Researchers mostly explored the knowledge sharing aspects. While knowledge hiding behavior and its efficacy on the overall performance of public organizations remain unexplored. In this study, a quantitative research design was applied to investigateantecedents and consequences of knowledge hiding behavior. The Social Exchange theory sets the foundations for the conceptual framework. the data was collected by survey of employees of multiple public organizations. The result depicts that the mediationof knowledge hiding behavior is negatively affecting the individual and collective performance in public organizations, resulting in outcomes of moral disengagement and turnover intentions. Thereby, this study is a stepping-stone towards finding ways and means to overcome causes of knowledge hiding behavior among employees within public organizations.