Knowledge Hiding in Toxic Environments: The Interplay of Emotional Exhaustion and Fear of Negative Evaluation

Abstract

The current investigation attempts to explore the ramifications of Exploitative Leadership (EL) on knowledge-hiding behaviour (KHB) of the employees working in the Establishment Division, Cabinet Secretariat, Islamabad, by employing the Cognitive Theory of Stress, Appraisal, and Coping. The hypothesis conjectured that employees’ emotional exhaustion (EEE) plays a mediating role in the relationship between EL and KHB. This study also attempted to expound the impending role of the moderating variable, fear of negative evaluation (FNE), between EL and KHB. The research was carried out in a non-contrived environment, and data were collected through the survey method by utilizing self-administered questionnaires at three different time intervals, i.e., (time-T1), (time-T2), and (time-T3). The responses of 313 were received from the respondents on a five-point Likert scale. The research adopted a time-lag design, a deductive approach, and a convenience data-collection sampling technique. AMOS and SPSS software were applied for the data analysis to thoroughly examine the link among the variables. The study's findings revealed that employees exhibit a high propensity for KHB when working under the supervision of EL. Employees experience an extreme sense of being overwhelmed, which often leads to emotional exhaustion, and consistent exhaustion magnifies the behaviour of knowledge hiding as a coping strategy. Furthermore, the hypothesis posited that the moderating variable i.e., fear of negative evaluation, mitigates the magnitude and frequency of KHB of the employees.