Purpose: The research topic under consideration examines how organizational political behavior (OPB) affects knowledge hiding among the faculty of a university. It also relies on the Social Exchange Theory and Conservation of Resources Theory to explore how the dimensions of authentic leadership can alleviate these harmful impacts.
Design/methodology/approach: 250 faculty members at Al-Muthanna University, Iraq, were used as a purposive sampling technique to collect data. The analysis used the PLS-SEM via Smart PLS 4. The moderation analysis was based on the product indicator approach to approximate the effects of interaction.
Findings: The findings indicate that all three determinants of OPB have significant and positive effects on knowledge hiding. More importantly, the interaction analysis proves that authentic leadership is a crucial buffer. In particular, the Relational Transparency and Self-Awareness were discovered to be the most stable moderators that undermined the connection between political perceptions and knowledge hiding. But the buffering effects were subtle, with certain dimensions of leadership indicating no significant interaction with certain political behaviors.
Originality/value: This research contribution to the literature is based on the inclusion of the social exchange and resource conservation viewpoint to explain knowledge hiding in the understudied setting of Iraqi higher education. It provides a granular study of actual leadership, beyond the aggregate construct, of how particular leadership actions prove most useful in defusing particular organizational politics.