低权高位者为何不能“知无不言”?——知识隐藏的认知和情感双路径研究

Why Can't People with Low Power and High Status“Say Anything without Reserve”?A Cognitive and Affective Study of Knowledge Hidi

本研究基于资源保存理论和认知-情感人格系统理论的框架,探讨了权力与地位的不一致对知识隐藏的作用机制及其边界条件。以初创高技术企业的团队为研究对象,分两个阶段收集到54个团队255份领导与成员的配对问卷,运用Mplus软件进行实证检验。研究结果表明:权力与地位的不一致会导致低权高位者的知识隐藏行为,这一行为主要通过内部人身份认知和角色压力对知识隐藏行为产生影响;团队精熟氛围削弱了权力-地位不一致与内部人身份认知以及权力-地位不一致和角色压力之间的关系,并削弱了内部人身份认知和角色压力的中介作用。本研究区分了权力和地位两个不同的社会层级,提出权力-地位不一致可能是工作的重要压力源之一,并通过揭示权力-地位不一致与知识隐藏行为之间联系的机制,进一步阐明了权力-地位不一致的复杂性。从实践角度提出了克服员工知识分享困境的建议,通过改进层级晋升体系和营造团队精熟氛围提供组织支持,促进知识在组织内部的流动。

Power and status are the two basic dimensions to form a social hierarchy.Power refers to resource control and authority,while status symbolizes the degree of respect and admiration.They are different in concept and not always consistent.In modern organizations,the“dislocation”is quite common,and it often leads to negative work behavior.However,the existing research mostly focuses on the discussion of the single dimension of power or status,and the empirical research on the complexity caused by the inconsistency between the two is relatively scarce,especially ignoring the important influence of the low power and high status inconsistency on individual work behavior.In the era of knowledge economy,knowledge resources become the core competitive advantage,and organizations hope that team members can actively share knowledge.As knowledge is one of the important sources of employees'current team hierarchy,individuals may choose to hide knowledge,which is a passive behavior to prevent resource loss,based on power or status preservation motivation.Draw on Conservation of Resource Theory and Cognitive-Affective Personality System Theory,this study holds that individuals'perception of the pressure of low power and high status inconsistency in the work team activates cognitive-affective units,resulting in the damage of positive cognitive resources and psychological resources,which makes individuals more likely to fall into the spiral of resource loss and choose to hide knowledge.Survey data including 255 team members and 54 team leaders of teams from high-tech start-up enterprises were collected in two stages,and empirical tests were carried out by using structural equation model with Mplus software.The main results show that:Hierarchy inconsistency positively affects individual knowledge hiding behavior.Perceived insider status and role stress play a dual mediating role between the inconsistent pressure and knowledge hiding behavior.Team climate positively moderates the relationship between hierarchy inconsistency and perceived insider status as weall s negatively moderates the relationship between hierarchy inconsistency and role stress.These conclusions have three contributions.First of all,this study responds to the call of existing scholars,distinguishes power and status from two different social hierarchies,and explores the complexity of the pressure on individuals caused by power-status inconsistency.Secondly,this study observes power-status inconsistency from the perspective of Conservation of Resources Theory and Cognitive-Affective Personality System Theory.Both theories recognize the importance of personal resources,and their integration helps to clarify the complexity of power-status inconsistency.The framework generated by integration expands the scope of the two theories by connecting different literature developed by the two theories.Based on the perspective of status characteristics,this paper explores the influence of power-status inconsistency on individual resources,and reveals the“black box”mechanism of the relationship between the two from two aspects:perceived insider status(cognitive resources)and role stress(psychological resources),profoundly explains the complete psychological mechanism behind knowledge hiding,and makes up for the lack of discussion on individual status characteristics of knowledge hiding behavior in previous literature.Thirdly,the existing research focuses on the COR theory's explanation of job burnout.This study enriches the stress generation mechanism explained by COR theory,and proposes that the power-status inconsistency may be one of the important stressors,to improve and develop stress management research.In addition,this study takes the situational factors at the team level into the research framework,and introduces the team mastery climate as the moderating variable.What's more,this paper puts forward some suggestions on encouraging employees'knowledge sharing from a practical perspective,and provides organizational support by improving the hierarchical promotion system and creating a team mastery climate,so as to promote the flow of knowledge within the organization.