Relationship between organizational culture and knowledge hiding in software industry : mediating role of workplace ostracism and workplace incivility

Increasingly it is recognized that in the software industry, knowledge hiding can cause serious economic losses to organizations. This study seeks to find the relationship between organizational culture and knowledge hiding. We further focused on the mediating role of workplace ostracism and workplace incivility with the help of various theories in the link between organizational culture and knowledge hiding which are also the antecedents of knowledge hiding. Background of knowledge hiding is still not extensively explored in previous studies yet and this research focused keenly on it. The sample size of the study consistsof300 employees working in three software houses of Pakistan as well as structural equation modelingwas used with cross-sectional deductive positivist approach, whereas research design was explanatory and descriptive in nature. We found that organizational culture has a significant relationship with knowledge hiding and additionally, workplace ostracism and workplace incivility as mediatorscreated positive channelsbetween organizational culture and knowledge hiding. However workplace ostracism and workplace incivility partially mediate in this study.