- 著者
-
シン ハヨン
島貫 智行
- 出版者
- 日本経営学会
- 雑誌
- 日本経営学会誌 (ISSN:18820271)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.50, pp.73-86, 2022-08-25 (Released:2023-08-26)
- 参考文献数
- 56
This study aims to examine the impact of prosocial motivation on knowledge sharing and hiding in organizations. In this study, the term prosocial motivation refers to the desire to expend effort to benefit others at work. Knowledge sharing means providing knowledge and information to others. Knowledge hiding, meanwhile, refers to an intentional attempt to withhold or conceal knowledge even when requested by others, and includes three dimensions: evasive hiding, playing dumb, and rationalized hiding. Knowledge sharing is a desirable behavior in organizations but could be challenging to promote. Because knowledge is one of the resources that can be used to gain competitive advantages, employees often face the dilemma of choosing between personal and collective interests. If they are prosocially motivated, they would be inclined to share their knowledge with others. However, prosocial motivation does not necessarily promote knowledge sharing. Previous research has indicated that employees hide their knowledge not only due to malintent but also for prosocial reasons. To examine how prosocial motivation affects knowledge sharing and hiding in the workplace, we focused on the regulatory forms of motivation, specifically the autonomous and controlled forms in the self-determination theory (SDT). According to SDT, autonomous motivation promotes knowledge sharing and reduces knowledge hiding. Meanwhile, controlled motivation promotes knowledge hiding. We developed hypotheses about the relationships between such two forms of prosocial motivation, and knowledge sharing and hiding, and analyzed the questionnaire survey responses of 761 full-time non-managerial employees in Japanese firms. The results indicated that autonomous prosocial motivation (APM) is positively related to knowledge sharing, and negatively related to knowledge hiding, except rationalized hiding. Furthermore, they showed that controlled prosocial motivation (CPM) is positively related to all dimensions of knowledge hiding. We also discussed the study's theoretical contributions and implications for future research.