The Strategic Cost of Silence: Knowledge Suppression as an Unmanaged Organizational Risk

ABSTRACT In the knowledge‐based economy, a firm's competitive advantage is built upon its ability to fully leverage its intellectual resources. Although existing research has focused on failures in sharing solicited knowledge, this study identifies a more insidious strategic vulnerability: the systematic suppression of unsolicited knowledge. We develop and validate the novel construct of knowledge suppression—defined as the conscious withholding of valuable, unsolicited information due to interpersonal and socio‐emotional barriers. Through three complementary studies, we establish knowledge suppression as a distinct phenomenon separate from knowledge hiding or hoarding, and we develop a reliable measure for it. We identify three core mechanisms that drive this behavior: (1) relational risk (anxiety about the recipient's response), (2) benevolent protection (to spare the target's feelings), and (3) self‐protection (to avoid potential backlash). Furthermore, we link knowledge suppression to critical organizational costs, including increased emotional labor and counterproductive communication like gossip. The findings reveal a critical flaw in organizational systems: vital intelligence is being lost not through a lack of technology or formal requests, but through unmanaged social‐psychological filters. For strategists and leaders, this study underscores that building a knowledge‐sharing culture is insufficient. Proactive strategies are required to create psychologically safe channels for unsolicited ideas and to view such knowledge not as a nuisance, but as a vital strategic asset that must be systematically elicited and integrated to fuel innovation and prevent strategic blind spots.