Purpose

Knowledge transfer is a crucial ingredient of employee innovation, yet affective work events may disrupt knowledge flow among employees. This study aims to investigate a previously overlooked, yet frequently occurring affective work experience, namely, that of being envied, and examine how perceptions of being envied may drive contrastive knowledge behaviors of sharing and hiding, which subsequently impact employee innovation. The study further examines how the zero-sum game beliefs of the envied individual may moderate these mechanisms.

Design/methodology/approach

This study builds on territorial and belongingness theories to delineate the contrastive motivations for knowledge hiding and knowledge sharing. This study tests a moderated mediation model through a multisource survey design involving 225 employees.

Findings

The results support the notion that perceptions of being envied are linked to both knowledge hiding and knowledge sharing; however, the indirect effect of being envied on innovation is observed only through knowledge sharing. The indirect positive link between perceptions of being envied and innovation via knowledge sharing is weakened when the envied employee holds high zero-sum game beliefs.

Originality/value

This study advances knowledge scholarship by identifying and testing the organizationally relevant but largely overlooked antecedent of being envied at work. The results provide useful insights to practitioners on how sharing or hiding knowledge serves as a strategic asset in response to being envied at work and how this may in turn impact employee innovation.

中文翻译：

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工作中受到嫉妒时员工知识行为的进化动机

目的

知识转移是员工创新的重要组成部分，但情感工作事件可能会扰乱员工之间的知识流动。本研究旨在调查一种以前被忽视但经常发生的情感工作经历，即被嫉妒的经历，并研究被嫉妒的感知如何驱动共享和隐藏的对比知识行为，从而影响员工的创新。该研究进一步探讨了被嫉妒者的零和游戏信念如何调节这些机制。

设计/方法论/途径

This study builds on territorial and belongingness theories to delineate the contrastive motivations for knowledge hiding and knowledge sharing. This study tests a moderated mediation model through a multisource survey design involving 225 employees.

Findings

The results support the notion that perceptions of being envied are linked to both knowledge hiding and knowledge sharing; however, the indirect effect of being envied on innovation is observed only through knowledge sharing. The indirect positive link between perceptions of being envied and innovation via knowledge sharing is weakened when the envied employee holds high zero-sum game beliefs.

Originality/value

这项研究通过识别和测试与组织相关但在很大程度上被忽视的工作中被嫉妒的前因来推进知识学术。研究结果为从业者提供了有用的见解，了解共享或隐藏知识如何作为战略资产来应对工作中的嫉妒，以及这反过来会如何影响员工创新。