Purpose

The purpose of this research study is to determine the ways in which employees’ personal power-expert and referent power influences their knowledge sharing and hiding behaviour. There are hardly any studies that have investigated the effects of employee power and expectations regarding the consequences of divulging knowledge. In this study, the authors investigate whether expected gains and losses in employee personal power influence employees’ willingness to participate in knowledge transfer.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors adopted a two-wave survey design and collected critical data from 288 employees of knowledge-intensive industries identified through online techno-groups, such as Stack Exchange. In the first wave, out of the total, 192 knowledge workers attended the follow-up survey. The authors apply polynomial regression followed by surface response analysis to establish the effects of any discrepancy between the current levels of employees’ personal power and their expected levels if they divulge their unique critical knowledge.

Findings

The authors find out that employees having relatively strong personal power are more likely to share knowledge, and the expected losses in power are categorically associated with a reduced intention to share knowledge. The authors also observed an increased knowledge hiding with expected losses in power. Surprisingly, the authors find that these established negative outcomes are also specifically associated with the expected gains in personal power.

Research limitations/implications

The most significant contribution of this study is to establish that power plays an important but complex role in determining the employees’ participation in knowledge transfer activities. The authors specifically conclude that the optimal scenario for knowledge sharing is one in which the employees’ contributions are fairly valued and their reputation is not expected to change because of knowledge sharing.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first comprehensive studies that link power to both sharing and hiding of knowledge. This study is also unique in terms of its investigation of the effects of any discrepancy between current levels of employees’ personal power and their expected levels if they share or hide their unique critical knowledge. Thus, this research study is a unique contribution in terms of what and why of an untouched area in the entire knowledge management literature with a special focus on knowledge sharing and hiding.

中文翻译：

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专家权力和参考权力对知识共享和知识隐藏的影响

目的

本研究的目的是确定员工的个人权力专家和参考权力影响他们的知识共享和隐藏行为的方式。几乎没有任何研究调查过员工权力和对泄露知识后果的期望的影响。在这项研究中，作者调查了员工个人权力的预期收益和损失是否会影响员工参与知识转移的意愿。

设计/方法/途径

作者采用了两波调查设计，并从通过在线技术团体（如 Stack Exchange）确定的知识密集型行业的 288 名员工中收集了关键数据。在第一波中，共有 192 名知识工作者参加了后续调查。作者应用多项式回归，然后进行表面响应分析，以确定员工当前个人权力水平与他们在泄露其独特的关键知识时的预期水平之间的任何差异的影响。

发现

作者发现，具有相对较强个人权力的员工更有可能分享知识，而权力的预期损失与知识分享意愿的降低明确相关。作者还观察到知识隐藏增加以及预期的功率损失。令人惊讶的是，作者发现这些既定的负面结果也与个人权力的预期收益特别相关。

研究局限性/影响

这项研究最重要的贡献是确定权力在决定员工参与知识转移活动方面发挥着重要但复杂的作用。作者特别得出结论，知识共享的最佳场景是员工的贡献得到公平重视，并且他们的声誉不会因为知识共享而改变。

原创性/价值

据作者所知，这项研究是首批将权力与知识共享和隐藏联系起来的综合研究之一。如果员工分享或隐藏他们独特的批判性知识，这项研究的独特之处还在于它调查了当前员工个人权力水平与他们的预期水平之间的任何差异的影响。因此，这项研究在整个知识管理文献中未触及的领域的内容和原因方面具有独特的贡献，特别关注知识共享和隐藏。