How strategic knowledge hiding drives competitive individuals to establish research superiority: A case in UK Business Schools

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