Knowledge-Sharing Hostility and Governance Mechanisms: An Empirical Test

Purpose – This paper aims at further developing and empirically examining the concept of knowledge-sharing hostility. It seeks to analyze reasons for hoarding knowledge, reasons for rejecting external knowledge, and attitudes towards mistakes, as well as the influence of these factors on actual knowledge-sharing behavior. The paper aims to examine how two specific knowledge-governance mechanisms – commitment-based and transaction-based mechanisms – affect knowledge sharing

Design/methodology/approach – The authors test the hypotheses on a sample of 1,639 respondents in 15 organizations in Denmark.

Findings – The authors find that the use of transaction-based mechanisms promotes knowledge-sharing hostility by strengthening individuals' reasons for hoarding and rejecting knowledge, and by negatively affecting individuals' attitudes towards sharing knowledge about mistakes. In contrast, the use of commitment-based mechanisms diminishes knowledge-sharing hostility among individuals.

Originality/value – The contribution of the paper is two-fold. First, it responds to the clear need to examine individual characteristics related to withholding knowledge in organizations. Second, by delineating specific organizational governance mechanisms that are critical for dealing with knowledge-sharing hostility, the research responds to the call for research aimed at explaining and detailing problems that lie in the intersection of organization and knowledge processes.