Exploring the relationship between organizational justice and knowledge hiding: do expatriates and nationals differ?

Purpose Using social exchange theory (SET) as a guiding framework, this study aims to examine the relationships between the three facets of organizational justice (distributive justice, procedural justice and interactional justice) and knowledge hiding across employment types: self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) and host country nationals (HCNs). Design/methodology/approach The authors collected time-separated responses from 390 participants (181 SIEs and 209 HCNs) in the United Arab Emirates. Using hierarchical regression, they examined whether employment type moderated the relationships between the three facets of justice and knowledge hiding. Findings Procedural justice was negatively related to knowledge hiding for both SIEs and HCNs. Interactional justice was negatively related to knowledge hiding for HCNs, but only when procedural justice was low and interactional justice was positively related to knowledge hiding for SIEs, but only when procedural or distributive justice were low. Distributive justice was only related to knowledge hiding for SIEs, but only when procedural justice was low or interactional justice was high. Originality/value This research identifies which forms of organizational justice are related to knowledge hiding across different segments of the workforce. The findings also demonstrate that SET provides a more consistent explanation for the relationship between procedural justice and knowledge hiding than for the relationships involving distributive and interactional justice across employment types.