How does Supervisor Incivility Impair Employees’ Knowledge Sharing: Evidence from Chinese Firms
Chang-e LIU, PhD; Shumin HU, Jie HUANG, Wei XIE, Feng TIAN, PhD

Abstract
The research to date has largely been unclear about the relationship between supervisor incivility and employees’ knowledge sharing. From the perspective of social exchange theory, we examine how a supervisor’s incivility impact on employees’ knowledge sharing through mediation factor of organizational identification. Meanwhile, the moderation role of promotion focus and prevention focus were investigated. Through 295 valid questionnaires collected from Hunan Province China, we find that those employees who experiencing incivility from their supervisors are more likely to have low organizational identification and as a consequence show reluctance to share knowledge with team members. Moreover, we find that promotion focus and prevention focus moderate the relationship between supervisor incivility and employee knowledge sharing in collectivist cultures. Implications for theory and practice are also discussed.

Full Text: PDF