The link between Perceived Organizational Justice, Knowledge Hiding Behaviors and Innovative Behavior: A Moderated Mediation Model

Purpose - Previous studies tried to find antecedents of innovative behavior. However, research on knowledge hiding behavior, psychological mechanism, and perception of organizational justice has been relatively limited. In this sense, this study has investigated the impact of organizational justice on employees’ innovative behavior and explored the factors that affect the above relationship. Especially, this study tested the direct effect of organizational justice on innovative behavior. This study also examines the mediating roles of knowledge hiding behavior in this causal relationship. Moreover, the process of organizational justice to innovative behavior is assumed to be influenced by leadership style. Therefore, we examined the moderating effect of authentic leadership on the relationship between organizational justice and knowledge hiding behavior. Design/methodology/approach - For the empirical test, we collected data via a questionnaire survey of a sample of 252 employees from Korean firms. We conducted a hierarchical regression analysis to test hypotheses. Results - The results of the empirical analysis revealed that organizational justice was positively related to innovative behavior and negatively related to knowledge hiding behavior. The results also showed that knowledge hiding behavior negatively mediated the relationship between organizational justice and innovative behavior. In addition, we found the moderating role of authentic leadership. More importantly, we found that the conditional indirect effect of organizational justice on innovative behavior via knowledge hiding behavior was depending on authentic leadership. Uncovering the relationship between organizational justice and innovative behavior through the mediating role of knowledge hiding behavior and the moderated mediating role of authentic leadership has useful theoretical and practical implications. We also suggest directions for future research by providing several limitations.