High-performance work systems and innovative work behavior: the mediating role of knowledge hiding and the moderating role of performance goal orientation

Although high-performance work systems (HPWS) are widely recognized as an important driver of employee performance, less is known about how they may restrain defensive knowledge behaviors that ultimately shape innovation outcomes. Drawing on an integrated framework combining the AMO model, social exchange theory, and goal orientation theory, this study develops and tests a moderated mediation model in which HPWS are associated with innovative work behavior (IWB) through knowledge hiding, with performance goal orientation (PGO) serving as a boundary condition on the relationship between HPWS and knowledge hiding. Using survey data from 456 full-time employees working in China, the results indicate that employees’ perceptions of HPWS are negatively associated with knowledge hiding and positively associated with IWB, whereas knowledge hiding is negatively associated with IWB. Moreover, PGO strengthened the negative relationship between HPWS and knowledge hiding, such that this negative relationship is more pronounced at higher levels of PGO. Consistent with this pattern, the indirect positive association between HPWS and IWB via reduced knowledge hiding is stronger when employees report higher levels of PGO. By integrating the resource, relational, and self-regulatory processes through which employees respond to HPWS, this study extends research on strategic human resource management, knowledge management, and employee innovation.