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How strategic knowledge hiding drives competitive individuals to establish research superiority: A case in UK Business Schools
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Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Abstract
Purpose – Why and when people working in organisations hide their knowledge has
received considerable academic attention. However, little attention has been paid to
knowledge hiding in academia itself, even though universities are known as places
where knowledge is shared. This study considers the dilemma faced by academics
when undertaking research work: should they share or hide what they are doing?
Design/methodology/approach – Using empirical evidence drawn from 20
academics in a number of UK Business Schools, we carried out in depth interviews to
investigate the effects of strategic knowledge hiding (SKH) on research knowledge
work. We argue that SKH can drive competitive individuals to establish research
superiority.
Findings – The findings revealed that most respondents have, for strategic reasons,
hidden their tacit and/or explicit knowledge from others during ongoing research
processes, but have, at the same time, purposefully sought for knowledge from
targeted colleagues.
Originality – Our findings extend the previous literature by revealing not only the
distinctive individual antecedents of SKH, but also its positive outcomes. The findings
illustrate a pioneering contribution of a systematic model of SKH among university
business school academics.
1. Introduction
Keywords Strategic knowledge hiding, academia, individual antecedent, tacit
knowledge, explicit knowledge
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Citation
Mahamed Ismail, A. and Welch, C.E. (2023) “How strategic knowledge hiding drives competitive individuals to establish research superiority: a case in UK Business Schools,” Journal of Knowledge Management, 27(10), pp. 2708–2728.