Two decades of knowledge hiding research: A global bibliometric analysis with Asia-Pacific insights

Abstract

This work investigates the worldwide growth of research on knowledge hiding on top of highlighting the increasing impact of the Asia-Pacific region in reforming the field of organizational behavior. Delineated as the intentional act of concealing knowledge with a significant impact on trust, collaboration, and organizational learning, knowledge hiding has been receiving growing research attention. Even so, there are very few existing systematic reviews on the intellectual structure, regional contributions, and influential works of this subject. This current study addresses this gap by conducting a bibliometric analysis of 596 papers published in Scopus over the 2006–2025 period and visualizing them using VOSviewer. The aspects analyzed include trends in publication and citation, type of documents, languages, key authors and journals, co-authorship networks, co-occurrence of keywords, and thematic clusters. Exponential expansion of the outputs was identified, with the Journal of Knowledge Management, Journal of Organizational Behavior, and Academy of Management Journal being the top contributors. Meanwhile, the top contributing countries at a collective 73.6% are Indonesia, Malaysia, China, India, and Australia, highlighting the Asia-Pacific region’s significance. The top thematic clusters include leadership and ethics, workplace climate, conceptual foundations, adverse organizational conditions, and cultural diversity. The study advances understanding by sitting in a global yet contextually diverse phenomenon. Theoretically, it identifies fragmentation and calls for integrated frameworks linking leadership, ethics, digital transformation, and culture. Practically, it urges organizations to adopt governance strategies that mitigate hiding while fostering trust and transparency.