Why project managers’ knowledge hiding is harmful to NPD projects: resilient team resource caravans as an explanatory mechanism
研究了中国高科技企业105个新产品开发项目团队，发现项目经理的知识隐藏（如装傻、回避）会通过降低团队心理安全和交互记忆系统，最终损害项目效率和效果。
Purpose New product development (NPD) projects are strategically important for firms’ operations but suffer from high failure rates. Leadership is a key factor for project success. However, in contrast to positive project leadership, project managers’ knowledge hiding has received little attention. Drawing on the input-mediator-output (IMO) framework and model of work team resilience, we explored the effect of project managers’ destructive knowledge hiding (i.e. evasive hiding and playing dumb) on project team performance (i.e. efficiency and effectiveness) and the serial indirect effect through team psychological safety and transactive memory systems. Design/methodology/approach We conducted a time-lagged multiple-sourcing investigation of Chinese high-tech firms and tested the hypotheses using data collected from 105 NPD project teams. Findings Our findings demonstrated that project managers’ knowledge hiding negatively affects NPD project team performance and indirectly negatively affects transactive memory systems through team psychological safety. Moreover, project managers’ knowledge hiding exerts a negative indirect effect on team performance through team psychological safety and transactive memory systems in serial. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature on operations management (OM) by broadening our understanding of the connection between project managers' destructive knowledge hiding and the failure of NPD projects. In providing such insight, it also offers practical guidance for overcoming team-level obstacles arising from project managers' knowledge hiding.