Research On The Effect Of Team Advice Network Centrality On Employees' Knowledge Exchange Behavior

In the face of the increasingly fierce market competition and the growing demand for innovation,more and more organizations adopt "team" as operation mode to deal with the complex tasks that a single employee cannot complete quickly and independently.The effective knowledge exchange among team members provides guarantee for the proposal and operation of creative solutions.However,the reality is that even if organizations try to take various measures to encourage employees to exchange knowledge(such as cultivating sharing culture,building sharing platform,creating open office space,etc.),hiding knowledge among team members is still common.Therefore,it is very urgent and important to clarify the influencing factors of knowledge exchange behavior of team members,especially the core members of team advice network,which could help to promote and maintain the effective operation of knowledge exchange within the team.The advice network centrality describes the extent to which individuals are relied on by others to obtain information,knowledge and other resources.Reviewing the existing literature,many scholars have made extensive discussions on the measurement methods,antecedents and influencing results of the advice network centrality,but they fail to discuss the important individual behavioural result(e.g.knowledge exchange behaviour),so that the relationship between advice network centrality and individual knowledge exchange behavior is not clear.Only a few literature focus on the promotion of knowledge sharing by the "location advantage"(such as influence and reputation)brought by the advice network centrality.But in fact,as the recent research points out,the advice network centrality often has two sides.For example,the center location of advice network not only enjoys reputation("location advantage"),but also carries higher consulting needs and expectations("location dilemma").In other words,the influence of the advice network centrality on individual knowledge exchange behavior may be more complex than what existing studies have explored.In view of this,this study focuses on how advice network centrality affects individual knowledge exchange behavior,and explores the influence mechanism of advice network centrality on individual knowledge exchange behavior.Through the joint investigation of knowledge sharing and knowledge hiding,this paper aims to provide a more comprehensive and realistic explanation for how the advice network centrality affects employees efforts on knowledge exchange.Focusing on the research problems,based on the deep understanding of the existing literatures and management practice,this study constructs two sub-research to explore the path mechanism of the advice network centrality to play different effects.Specifically,from the perspective of the conservation of resource theory,the first study focuses on the "location dilemma" of advice network centrality to explore its impact on employees knowledge sharing behavior and knowledge hiding behavior.From the perspective of impression management theory,the second study focuses on the "location advantage" of advice network centrality to explore its effect on employees knowledge sharing behavior and knowledge hiding behavior.Based on paired data from 376 members of 62 teams that was collected at three time points,the following conclusions have been drawn: first,the advice network centrality would hinder the knowledge sharing behavior and promote knowledge hiding behavior in some extent.Secondly,role overload and personal reputation concern are the key process mechanisms that the advice network centrality affects employees knowledge sharing behavior and knowledge hiding behavior.Third,the perceived competence uncertainty is an important factor to promote employees to fall into position dilemma and experience role overload in the advice network.Through the comprehensive use of case study and quantitative research methods,this study identifies the important influencing factors of individual knowledge exchange behavior in team advice network.The main contributions are as follows: firstly,from the perspective of conservation of resource theory,this study explores the potential negative impact of the advice network centrality.By simultaneously examining the "location advantage" and "location dilemma" brought by the advice network centrality for employees,this study complements a large number of studies on the proposition that network center is the dominant location,which can be said to be a kind of promotion to the research of advice network centrality.Secondly,this study investigates how the employees cognitive evaluation of location experience of advice network affects their knowledge sharing behavior and knowledge hiding behavior,enriches the antecedents of knowledge sharing behavior and knowledge hiding behavior,and also reveals the process of employees adjustment of knowledge communication strategies in the advice network to some extent.Finally,by revealing when the advice network centrality will more or less lead to different role experiences of employees,this study expands the boundary conditions for the advice network centrality to play an influential role.