This study aims to investigate what motivates Chinese firms to expand their business abroad and how these firms align investment motives with their staffing practices in developed and developing countries. Through in-depth interviews with Chinese expatriate managers and host country managers in 21 overseas Chinese firms, our findings show that responding to China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), improving China's international reputation, benefitting from host country investment environment, and targeting host country Chinese investors, are the main investment motives to engage Chinese firms in internationalisation. To support these internationalisation motives, Chinese firms show instrumental, cognitive and moral focuses in their international staffing practices. For developed countries, Chinese firms prefer human resource management localisation, whereas for developing countries, Chinese firms staff their management positions mainly with expatriates.

Recent research on counterproductive work behaviors (CWB) has clearly distinguished between organizational-directed and individual-directed forms of CWB. Organizational-directed counterproductive work behaviors (CWB-O) pose a significant threat to organizational effectiveness and employee well-being. However, there remains a gap in research regarding the psychological mechanisms by which perpetrators subsequently engage in positive behaviors. Drawing on moral cleansing theory, this study, based on two-wave survey data from 489 Chinese employees, explores the relationship between CWB-O and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB-O). The results reveal that employees who engage in CWB-O experience higher levels of guilt and stronger perceptions of moral impurity, both of which independently and positively mediate the impact of CWB-O on OCB-O. Furthermore, we find that employees’ traditionalism orientation positively moderates the indirect effects of CWB-O on OCB-O through guilt experience and moral impurity perception, with the mediation effect being more pronounced for employees with higher traditionalism orientation. This study extends moral cleansing theory and highlights the role of cultural values in shaping workplace moral self-regulation.

Drawing on affective events theory, this study examines how and when mindful leadership emotionally empowers employees and inhibits their deceptive knowledge hiding behavior. We propose a moderated mediation model to explore the emotional enhancement process linking mindful leadership to deceptive knowledge hiding. A three-wave, time-lagged 299 valid samples were collected from full-time employees working in various industries in China. Mplus has been used to analyze data. The results show that when leaders are more mindful, employees tend to experience more positive emotions at work, which in turn, make them less likely to engage in deceptive knowledge hiding. In this process, positive affect acts as a mediator between mindful leadership and less deceptive knowledge hiding. Furthermore, person-supervisor fit positively moderates both the direct relationship between mindful leadership and employee-positive affect, and the indirect effect of mindful leadership on deceptive knowledge hiding through employee-positive affect. When person-supervisor fit is high, these direct and indirect effects are stronger, and vice versa. These findings show the emotional pathways through which mindful leadership influences employee deceptive knowledge hiding. In the managerial implications, we offer organizations solutions to address deceptive knowledge hiding by developing leaders' mindfulness, enhancing person-supervisor fit, and fostering employee-positive affect.

Purpose Drawing on Conversational Constraint Theory (CCT), this study aims to examine the causal relationships between constraint elements in knowledge-request conversations (i.e. request directness, request politeness, public versus private requests, affective relationships, the requestee’s gender and negative affective states), and knowledge hiding. Design/methodology/approach A survey of 386 knowledge employees from different companies in China was conducted. Event reconstruction principles were applied to reduce potential recall bias. Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA) and fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) were used. NCA and fsQCA were used to perform necessary causality analyses (“No Y without X”), whereas fsQCA was used to conduct sufficiency analyses (“If X, then Y”). Findings The results show that no single factor in knowledge requests serves as a necessary condition for either high or low knowledge hiding; four pathways with different configurations lead to high knowledge hiding; and no consistent pathways leading to low knowledge hiding were identified, highlighting causal asymmetry in comparison to pathways leading to high knowledge hiding. Originality/value First, this study advances research on the antecedents of knowledge hiding by verifying the complex causal relationships between conversational constraints and knowledge hiding. Second, it offers new insights by proposing an integrated framework based on CCT. Third, a mixed-method approach, combining NCA and fsQCA, is used to provide a detailed analysis of the antecedents of knowledge hiding.

This study contributes by investigating the nature and the role played by informal networks in human resource management (HRM) practices, focusing on wasta (linked with Arab cultures) and guanxi (associated with Chinese culture) in recruitment and selection, compensation, performance appraisal, and career development. Using inductivism, we analyzed qualitative data from 44 interviews with senior managers in Tunisia, Lebanon, and China. Findings reveal that culturally driven informal networks discreetly shape HRM practices in domestic firms, where they are seen as beneficial. However, their influence in HRM is weakening in foreign firms, which prioritize fairness, meritocracy and transparency due to headquarters' pressure and employee expectations of equal opportunity. The study identifies both similarities and differences in how wasta and guanxi impact HRM practices in emerging markets, offering theoretical and practical insights into the role of informal networks in HRM.

Purpose We examine managerial practices in South Korean subsidiaries of European Multinational Companies (MNCs) to understand how they navigate hierarchical structures during organizational transitions. Using an institutional lens, we explore the nature of hierarchy and how various types of hierarchy interplay in fostering agile organizational structures. Design/methodology/approach This study employs a qualitative research design based on 32 in-depth interviews with expatriates in top- and middle-management positions in European subsidiaries in South Korea. Findings Our results suggest that organizational hierarchy should not be conceptualized solely as a formal structure. Instead, organizational hierarchy, as part of an institution, can simultaneously encompass both formal and informal elements. These hierarchies interact dynamically, with hybridization occurring across a continuum. Hence, we propose classifying organizational hierarchy as a hybrid institution. Originality/value Research has highlighted a knowledge gap in understanding informal institutions and their interaction with formal institutions in organizational hierarchies. Our study reveals that informal institutions may reinforce hierarchies aligned with societal norms while destabilizing those that diverge from them, leading to both functional and dysfunctional outcomes.

Purpose Employees may adopt deceptive knowledge hiding (DKH) due to nonworking time information and communication technology (ICT) demands. Drawing from the conservation of resources (COR) theory, this study aims to develop and test a model of deceptive knowledge hiding (DKH) due to nonworking time information and communication technology (ICT) demands. Design/methodology/approach In total, 300 service employees have joined the three-wave surveys. Path analysis and bootstrapping methods were used to test the theoretical model. Findings Results suggest that knowledge requests during nonworking time could deplete employees’ resources and increase their tendency to engage in DKH, whereas work recovery and emotional exhaustion mediate this relationship. In addition, employees’ work–family segmentation preferences (WFSP) were found to moderate the direct effects of nonworking time ICT demands on employees’ work recovery and emotional exhaustion and the indirect effects of knowledge requests after working hours on DKH through employees’ work recovery and emotional exhaustion. Originality/value First, the findings of this study shed light on the relationship between knowledge requests during employees’ nonworking time and knowledge hiding, suggesting that knowledge hiding could occur beyond working hours. Second, drawing on COR theory, this study explored two joint processes of resource replenishment failure and depletion and how nonworking time ICT demands trigger knowledge hiding. Third, the interaction effect of individuals’ WFSP and nonworking time factors on knowledge hiding deepens the understanding of when nonworking time ICT demands may induce knowledge hiding through various processes.

Purpose The key to preventing employees from engaging in deceptive knowledge hiding is fostering a responsible environment. Drawing on social cognitive theory, this study aims to explore the factors that inhibit deceptive knowledge hiding and to construct potential pathways for enhancing individual moral cognition. This study further analyzes the moderating effect of leader–follower value congruence on these relationships. Design/methodology/approach Using data from 341 full-time employees in various service industries in China, this study conducted path analysis, the product-of-coefficients method and bootstrapping to test the hypotheses through a three-stage, time-lagged survey. Findings The empirical results show that responsible leadership is negatively associated with employees’ deceptive knowledge hiding. Employee moral reflectiveness mediates this relationship, whereas leader–follower value congruence moderates the indirect effect of responsible leadership on deceptive knowledge hiding through moral reflectiveness. Originality/value First, this study extends field research by introducing positive leadership factors to reduce deceptive knowledge hiding, whereas prior studies focused mainly on negative leadership antecedents. Second, this study sheds light on the underlying moral cognitive mechanisms and explains how responsible leadership can prevent implicit unethical behavior. Third, it reveals how leader–follower value congruence can enhance the impact of responsible leadership on moral reflectiveness, offering novel insights into the role of value-based fit in reducing deceptive knowledge hiding.

Drawing on conservation of resources (COR) theory, we examine the relationship between citizenship pressure and knowledge hiding, exploring the underlying mechanism between the two through citizenship fatigue and supervisor-subordinate guanxi. Two three-wave sets of data were collected and analyzed with PROCESS. Study 1 revealed that employees' perceived pressure to engage in organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) can lead them to experience citizenship fatigue and to seek to conserve resources through deceptively hiding knowledge (i.e., evasive hiding and playing dumb). However, rationalized hiding will not be adopted by employees as a strategy to reserve resources under citizenship pressure. Supervisor-subordinate guanxi also serves as a reverse moderator, in that high guanxi mitigates the direct impact of citizenship pressure on citizenship fatigue and the indirect impact of citizenship pressure on evasive hiding and playing dumb through citizenship fatigue. Study 2 replicated and extended the findings of Study 1 by considering the negative affect as a potential mediator and the leader-member exchange (LMX) as a potential moderator. The findings show that citizenship pressure has a positive effect on evasive hiding and playing dumb through the mediating role of citizenship fatigue; and supervisor-subordinate guanxi negatively moderates the positive effect of citizenship pressure on citizenship fatigue and the mediating effect of citizenship fatigue, whereas LMX has no significant moderating effect on these linkages. This research advances our understanding of the "dark side" of OCB and enriches knowledge hiding studies by introducing a new predictor about extra-role work stressors.

Organizations are directing increasing attention towards corporate sustainability due to the regulative requests, the expectations of stakeholders and the greater community, environmental pressure, and the benefits of maximizing the firms’ performance [...]

Based on moral cleansing theory, a moderated mediating model was proposed to explore the internal psychological mechanisms of employees' transformation from organisation-targeted counterproductive work behaviours (CWB-O) to organisation-targeted citizenship behaviours (OCB-O). We conducted three studies, including two experiments and one survey. Our results show that the previous CWB-O positively affected employees' subsequent guilt feeling and perceived moral impurity. In particular, guilt feeling and perceived moral impurity played mediating roles in the relationship between CWB-O and OCB-O. In addition, employees' traditionality positively moderated the indirect effect of CWB-O on OCB-O via guilt experience and perceived moral impurity, such mediating effect is more vital for employees with higher level of traditionality, and vice versa.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how voluntary citizenship behaviour towards an individual (VCB-I) is linked with vicious knowledge hiding (VKH), and why members, within a mastery climate, tend to participate in less VKH after their engaging in VCB-I. The authors, according to the moral licensing theory, propose that moral licensing mediates the relationship between VCB-I and VKH, and that a mastery climate weakens the hypothesised link via moral licensing. Design/methodology/approach This study surveys 455 valid matching samples of subordinates and supervisors from 77 working teams in China at two time points and explores the relationship between VCB and VKH, as well as the underlying mechanism. A confirmatory factor analysis, bootstrapping method and hierarchical linear model were used to validate the research hypotheses. Findings The results show that VCB-I has a significant positive effect on VKH; moral credentials play a mediating role in the relationship between VCB-I and VKH; and the mastery climate moderates the positive effect of moral credentials on VKH and the mediating effect of moral credentials. In a high-mastery climate, the direct effect of moral credentials on VKH and the indirect influence of VCB-I on VKH through moral credentials are both weakened, and conversely, both effects are enhanced in a low-mastery climate. However, contrary to the expected hypothesis, moral credits do not mediate the relationship between VCB-I and VKH, which may be due to the differences in the mechanisms between the two moral licensing models. Originality/value Prior research has mainly focused on the “victim-centric” perspective to examine the impacts of others’ behaviour on employees’ knowledge hiding. Few works have used the “actor-centric” perspective to analyse the relationship between employees’ prior workplace behaviour and their subsequent knowledge hiding intention. In addition, this study enriches the field research on the voluntary aspects of organisational citizenship behaviour, which differs from its involuntary ones.

Drawing on conservation of resources (COR) theory, this study examines the relationship between abusive supervision and employee knowledge sharing and investigates the mechanism underlying their relationship through perceived motivational climate and psychological safety. The data were collected from 337 supervisor-employee dyads from knowledge-based companies in China. Hierarchical regression and path analysis were used for data analysis. The results showed that abusive supervision played a detrimental role in affecting employees’ willingness to share knowledge and that a perceived motivational climate moderated the effect of abusive supervision on employee knowledge sharing through psychological safety. Based on the findings, we provide the theoretical and practical implications.

COPYRIGHT © 2023 He, Shen, Zhao and Jiang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Editorial: Moral emotion, moral cognition, and (im)moral behavior in the workplace

Ecological conservation is a commonly concerned core topic in the world, and the devotion of enterprises to environmental protection becomes the urgent need. Based on social learning theory, this study discusses the relationship among ethical leadership, moral identity, organisational citizenship behaviour for the environment, and perceived corporate social responsibility. With questionnaire survey, 238 valid samples are collected from three manufacturing enterprises in northwest and east China for the empirical analysis. The research results reveal that ethical leadership could effectively promote employees' organisational citizenship behaviour for the environment, moral identity develops partial mediating effects in the process, and perceived corporate social responsibility positively moderates the relationship between ethical leadership and moral identity.

This article provides a review of scientific articles addressing the topic of knowledge hiding in organizations. Based on a descriptive analysis, bibliometric analysis, and content analysis of a sample of 81 articles published in the academic journals in the Web of Science from 2012 to 2020, we identify the main areas and current dynamics of knowledge hiding research. Our results show that the central research themes of knowledge hiding include five clusters: concept and dimensions, antecedents, consequences, theories, and influence mechanisms. Based on our findings, we suggest future research should further develop the concept and dimensions of knowledge hiding; probe deeper into the consequences of knowledge hiding; explore multilateral, cross-level, and collective knowledge hiding; employ innovative theoretical perspectives and research methods to study knowledge hiding; and address how cultural and other contextual factors may shape the knowledge hiding behavior.

The rapid and unplanned change to teaching and learning in the online format brought by COVID-19 has likely impacted many, if not all, aspects of university students' lives worldwide. To contribute to the investigation of this change, this study focuses on the impact of the pandemic on student well-being, which has been found to be as important to student lifelong success as their academic achievement. Student well-being has been linked to their engagement and performance in curricular, co-curricular, and extracurricular activities, intrinsic motivation, satisfaction, meaning making, and mental health. The purpose of this study was to examine how student perceptions of their degree completion and future job prospects during the pandemic impact their well-being and what role university support plays in this relationship. We used the conservation of resources theory to frame our study and to develop five hypotheses that were later tested via structural equation modeling. Data were collected from 2,707 university students in France, Germany, Russia, and UK via an online survey. The results showed that university support provided by instructors and administration plays a mediating role in the relationship between the perceived impact of COVID-19 on degree completion and future job prospects and levels of student well-being. Student well-being is decreased by their concerns for their degree completion but not by their concerns for future job prospects. In turn, concerns for future job prospects affect student well-being over time. These results suggest that in a “new normal,” universities could increase student well-being by making support to student studies a priority, especially for undergraduates. Also, universities should be aware of the students' changing emotional responses to crisis and ensure visibility and accessibility of student support.

Workplace stressors were identified to have critical impacts on employee creativity. However, little is known about how and when involuntary citizenship behavior [i.e., compulsory citizenship behavior (CCB)]-induced stress might exert an influence on employee creativity. To fill this knowledge gap, the present study firstly develops a moderated mediation model to investigate the CCB-employee creativity association as well as the underlying mechanism and contextual condition of this relationship. By integrating social cognitive theory such as self-efficacy theory and conservation of resources (COR) theory, we propose that CCB predicts employee creativity through the mediating role of creative self-efficacy (CSE), with the individual characteristics (i.e., personality traits) of negative affect acting as a boundary condition. Using two-wave time-lagged survey data collected from a sample of 251 frontline employees in 10 manufacturing firms in Southern China, the results show that: (a) CSE mediates the negative relationship between CCB and employee creativity; (b) negative affect moderates the relationship between CCB and CSE; (c) negative affect moderates the indirect influence of CCB on employee creativity through CSE. As the level of negative affect rises, this indirect relationship is stronger. Finally, important theoretical and managerial implications and promising avenues for future research are addressed.