Unraveling the paradox of abusive supervision: How it ignites knowledge hiding and knowledge sharing?

Purpose Based on face theory, this study aims to examine the effects of abusive supervision (AS) on employee knowledge hiding (KH) and knowledge sharing (KS) via face threats and the moderating role of motivational climate. Design/methodology/approach A 2-wave survey with data collected from 517 full-time employees and a scenario-based experiment with data collected from 216 employees was conducted to test the hypotheses. Findings This study reveals that performance climate increases the positive relationship between AS and employee KH via capability-based face threat, while mastery climate increases the positive relationship between AS and employee KS via relationship-based face threat (RFT). Research limitations/implications Our study makes several noteworthy contributions. Firstly, within the context of Chinese culture, where individuals tend to safeguard and enhance their face once losing face, we examine the impact of AS on KH and sharing, which enhances our understanding of how AS affects employees’ knowledge management behaviors. Secondly, we advance research on the potential positive outcomes of AS and broaden the scope of research related to the multidimensional nature of face. Finally, we introduce perceived motivational climate as a boundary condition, thereby enriching the research on how to mitigate the negative outcomes of AS. Practical implications Our findings suggest that AS motivates more RFT and hence KS among employees in organizations with a mastery climate. Given that abuse supervision has its instrumental value and cannot be eliminated (Kim et al., 2020), this study provides a possible view for managing AS more effectively. Originality/value As far as the authors are aware, this study represents the first attempt to investigate, from a comprehensive perspective, the underlying mechanisms (i.e. two types of face threats) and boundary conditions (i.e. two types of motivational climates) by which AS influences employee KH and KS.