Knowledge Withholding and Leader Behavior: Five U.S. General and Flag Officers
Abstract
Knowledge withholding may co-occur with knowledge sharing, but current research has a negativeconnotation and focuses on quantitatively investigated antecedents. However, the social context seems toplay a crucial role in this phenomenon. We therefore investigated knowledge withholding and leaderbehavior. In doing so, we applied a qualitative methodology and analyzed five memoirs of U.S. general andflag officers. The 1,853 memoir pages revealed 247 knowledge-withholding instances and eightdifferent actors. We developed a framework of interdependence theory and social identity theory to orderand explain the data. We found that the general and flag officers, as well as the other actors, withheldknowledge. Also, knowledge is withheld to (a) gain an advantage over another actor (negativeinterdependence), (b) yield a benefit for oneself and a trusted actor or to gain an edge over an untrusted actor(positive interdependence), (c) adhere to predetermined processes (neutral interdependence), and (d) createan advantage for the group with which a person socially identifies (social identity). Most importantly, thegeneral and flag officers use knowledge withholding as a tool to achieve their goals. These findings indicatethat this phenomenon in leader behavior may have been overlooked and should undergo further research.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2020
- Accession Number
- AD1127104
Entities
People
- Nando P. Strik
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School