The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of perceived relative overqualification on three dimensions of knowledge hiding behavior, and examine the mediating role of status maintenance motivation and the moderating role of zero-sum mindset. We collected survey data from 276 employee-coworker pairs in China at three-time points. The results show that perceived relative overqualification has a negative effect on employee playing dumb via status maintenance motivation, and has a positive effect on employee evasive hiding via status maintenance motivation. However, perceived relative overqualification has a non-significant effect on employee rationalized hiding via status maintenance motivation. In addition, we find that employee zero-sum mindset moderates the indirect effects of perceived relative overqualification on employee playing dumb and evasive hiding through status maintenance motivation. By breaking down the dimensions of knowledge hiding, this study attempts to reconcile the conflicting conclusions about the relationship between overqualification and knowledge hiding behavior, and also reveal the mechanism and boundary conditions.
