Influence of high performers on knowledge hiding and seeking of other employees: evidence from China

Drawing on conservation of resources and social comparison theories, this study examines how high-performing coworkers, who occupy more resources, affect the territoriality and knowledge-management behaviors of other employees. Data were collected from 323 employees at three time points in several large companies in South China, spanning internet information, management consulting, real estate and urban design, and finance, and were analyzed using SPSS and the PROCESS macro. The results reveal a dual-path mechanism. Perceived coworker's high performance increases employee knowledge hiding through territorial defending (the resource conservation path) and increases employee knowledge seeking through territorial expanding (the resource acquisition path). The positive indirect effects are significant only when employee trait competitiveness is high. This study advances the literature by confirming territoriality as a critical mediating mechanism and delineating a novel dual-path framework through which coworkers’ high performance distinctly shapes employees’ knowledge hiding and seeking.