An exploratory configurational analysis of knowledge hiding antecedents in project teams

Drawing on achievement goal theory and job design frameworks, this study explores how certain antecedents combine in configurations to trigger knowledge hiding behavior among project teammates. We, therefore, adopted a configurational approach and performed fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to a data set of 292 employees nested into 10 Chinese medium-sized firms. This inductive analytic approach enabled us to explore configurations of conditions of different levels of antecedents. Results identified four equifinal configurations of antecedents leading to knowledge hiding in project teams, in addition to six different configurations restraining this behavior, generating propositions to be tested by future research in a deductive manner. Our study may guide firms to better counteract and manage knowledge hiding behavior in teams by suggesting different pathways and solutions that can minimize knowledge hiding behavior among project team members.