Is Knowledge Hiding Contagious Within Organizational Teams? Examining Its Diffusion Through Workplace and Social Communication Networks

Knowledge hiding, the deliberate withholding of knowledge, can undermine team effectiveness and organizational performance. However, little is known about its diffusion within organizational teams. Drawing on social contagion theory, this study uses Autologistic Actor Attribute Models (ALAAMs) to examine knowledge hiding across workplace and social communication networks. Whole-network survey data from 200 employees in 31 teams in the U.S. and China reveal that, overall, knowledge hiding does not spread through communication networks. Certain network structures, however, facilitate its transmission: individuals centrally connected to multiple teammates or embedded in closed triads with both a hider and a non-hider are more likely to hide knowledge, whereas those bridging structural holes between hiders and non-hiders tend to avoid it. These findings advance social contagion theory and knowledge hiding research by showing how norm-violating behavior diffuses across different network structures and by characterizing knowledge hiding as network-embedded rather than solely an individual act.