Examining the Impact of Role Overload on Knowledge Hiding and Knowledge Manipulation

Role overload was rated as one of the top workplace stressors by the American Psychological Association in 2015. Drawing from the stressor-emotion model of Counterproductive Work Behaviour, we examine the indirect effect of role overload on knowledge hiding and manipulation, via negative affect. In a 3-wave field study (n = 161), our analysis found that negative affect fully mediates the relationship between role overload and knowledge hiding, and partially mediates the relationship between role overload and knowledge manipulation. This study extends research on the antecedents of knowledge hiding and knowledge manipulation by adopting an emotional lens, and suggests that organizations should take steps to decrease role overload in order to reduce the costs associated with knowledge hiding and knowledge manipulation.