Unveiling the dark side of workplace community: knowledge hiding in frontline hospitality

Purpose Grounded in Deutsch’s theory of cooperation and competition, this study aims to explain the paradoxical effect of psychological sense of community at work (PSCW) on knowledge hiding (KH) in frontline hospitality. It tests knowledge-based psychological ownership (KBPO) as the explanatory mechanism and prosocial motivation (PSM) as a motivational contingency. Design/methodology/approach Time-lagged data were gathered in three waves from frontline hospitality employees in Pakistan, yielding 632 usable responses. The hypothesized moderated mediation model was tested using covariance-based structural equation modeling with bias-corrected bootstrapping. Findings Contrary to the prevailing assumption that positive workplace social contexts suppress KH, PSCW was positively associated with KBPO and KBPO with KH, producing a significant indirect effect. PSM dampened the PSCW–KBPO link, weakening the indirect pathway among more prosocially motivated employees. Research limitations/implications The study extends KH theory by conceptualizing PSCW as an integrative antecedent, identifying KBPO as the mechanism explaining why KH persists within cohesive workplace communities and specifying PSM’s moderating role in this pathway, thereby questioning the view that positive workplace dynamics necessarily curbs KH. Practical implications Hospitality managers should pair efforts to strengthen workplace community with practices that frame knowledge as a collective rather than a personal resource, such as cross-training, team-based rewards and promotion criteria that recognize knowledge contribution over exclusive expertise and should recruit and develop prosocially motivated employees. Originality/value The study offers three contributions to KH research. It positions PSCW as a theoretically integrative antecedent, moving beyond the fragmented relational constructs of prior work; provides time-lagged evidence that strong workplace community can give rise to ownership-driven KH, revealing its dark side; and shows PSM to be the motivational contingency that determines when workplace community reduces protective hiding in frontline hospitality.