Knowledge hiding and knowledge sharing in small family farms: A stewardship view

Abstract

The way knowledge hiding co-exists with knowledge sharing in organizations remains under-researched and under-theorized. We focus on family farms, a context where knowledge sharing has been previously heralded as a critical activity for business continuity. We frame our study within stewardship theory and adopt a multiple case study research design. We draw on 51 in-depth interviews from 12 rural family farms in Cyprus. Our findings illustrate that members of farming business families act as stewards and behave in ways that facilitate the sharing or hiding of business knowledge. Business families act in secrecy and exhibit behaviors that can hide business knowledge in the presence of actors who are distrusted, since they carry a risk of knowledge appropriation. Conversely, they share knowledge with individuals they trust to fill resource gaps through behaving in an open manner. Our study contributes theoretically and empirically to the fields of knowledge management and family business.