Abusive Supervision and Its Impact on Knowledge Hiding Behavior Among Sales Force

Area of Science:

• Organizational Behavior
• Human Resource Management
• Knowledge Management

Background:

• Abusive supervision is a significant workplace issue impacting employee behavior.
• Knowledge hiding, a form of counterproductive work behavior, hinders organizational learning.
• Psychological contract breach is a key mediator in the relationship between negative leadership and employee responses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the relationship between abusive supervision and employee knowledge hiding behaviors.
• To investigate the mediating role of psychological contract breach in this relationship.
• To contribute to understanding knowledge hiding within the context of abusive leadership.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional data collected from 340 sales force employees in Pakistan's insurance companies.
• Structured questionnaires and convenient sampling were employed.
• Data analyzed using structural equation modeling (Partial Least Square).

Main Results:

• Abusive supervision demonstrated a significant positive relationship with employee knowledge hiding behaviors.
• Psychological contract breach partially mediated the link between abusive supervision and knowledge hiding.
• Findings contrast with previous studies focusing on knowledge sharing.

Conclusions:

• Abusive supervision drives employees to engage in knowledge hiding.
• Psychological contract breach explains why employees hide knowledge under abusive supervision.
• The study highlights the importance of addressing abusive leadership to foster knowledge sharing and improve knowledge management.