HOW TRANSACTIONAL LEADERSHIP IMPACTS TACIT AND EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE HIDING: THE ROLE OF PERCEIVED COMPETITION AND LEADER KNOWLEDGE HIDING

Abstract

This study investigates the role of transactional leadership as a pivotal antecedent to employee knowledge hiding, specifically focusing on tacit and explicit forms. Drawing on social learning theory, the study proposes and examines the indirect effect of transactional leadership on both tacit and explicit knowledge hiding through the mediation of perceived competition. Additionally, the study introduces leader knowledge hiding as a potential boundary condition to these relationships. Data were collected from university employees in Pakistan using a time-lagged design. The study employed structural equation modeling, utilizing AMOS 23, to rigorously test the proposed hypotheses. The results reveal that transactional leadership significantly encourages tacit and explicit knowledge hiding, with perceived competition as the underlying mechanism. However, the hypothesized moderating effect of leader knowledge hiding is not supported. This study is a pioneering effort to understand the nuanced relationship between transactional leadership, perceived competition, and the distinct forms of knowledge hiding—tacit and explicit. Incorporating leader knowledge hiding as a potential boundary condition adds a unique dimension to the existing literature, contributing novel insights. Our findings hold implications for knowledge management and transactional leadership literature. Practitioners can glean valuable insights from the study's results to inform strategies to mitigate knowledge hiding behaviors within organizational settings.

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