Author(s)

Chen Chen

School of Management, Jinan University, Guangdong, China.

Knowledge hiding behavior is common in the organization, which hinders the cooperation among employees and affects the transmission and development of new knowledge and new ideas. Therefore, based on the social exchange theory, this study takes 441 employees as the research object. The research results are as follows: 1) Perceived leader evasive hiding and perceived leader playing dumb had a negative effect on employee voice behavior. Perceived leader rationalized hiding has no significant influence on employee voice behavior. 2) LMX completely mediated the relationship between perceived leaders’ evasive hiding, playing dumb and voice behavior. 3) The moderating effect of knowledge distance on the influence of perceived leader knowledge hiding on LMX is significant. The greater the knowledge distance, the stronger the negative effect of perceived leadership knowledge hiding and LMX. This study suggests that managers should pay more attention to the possible negative impact of leader knowledge hiding and knowledge distance on employees’ voice behaviors, and to increase knowledge exchange with employees, to establish reasonable talent configuration in teams or organizations, as well as create a harmonious interpersonal atmosphere for employees’ voicing.

Perceived Leader Knowledge Hiding, Employee Voice Behavior, Leader-Member Exchange, Knowledge Distance, Social Exchange Theory

Chen, C. (2020) The Effect of Leader Knowledge Hiding on Employee Voice Behavior—The Role of Leader-Member Exchange and Knowledge Distance. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 8, 69-95. doi: 10.4236/jss.2020.84006.