The association between interpersonal conflict, turnover intention and knowledge hiding: The mediating role of employee cynicism and moderating role of emotional intelligence

Academia is prone to incivility and interpersonal conflict like any other workplace environment, although incivility in academia is manifested in behaviors such as undermining colleagues’ professional standing, intelligence and authority; reprobating other’s accomplishments; and hiding knowledge from other faculty members. The autonomy, independence, academic freedom, and tenure in academia lead to a working environment (culture) with different “rules of engagement”, governed by the faculty members themselves. This study examines the impact of employee cynicism on faculty’s interpersonal conflict as a source of stress, which leads to undesirable organizational behaviors, namely higher turnover intention and knowledge hiding behavior; furthermore, the role of faculty’s emotional intelligence as a moderator on the relationship between interpersonal conflict among faculty members and turnover intention has been investigated as a second objective of this study. The study uses a quantitative method of research and analysis, by collecting data from 200 faculty members in private higher education institutions. The study’s hypotheses were tested by Smart PLS3 (SEM) to conclude that: 1) interpersonal conflict directly influences turnover intention and knowledge hiding behavior; 2) employee cynicism has no mediating effect in the relationship between interpersonal conflict, and turnover intention or knowledge hiding behavior; 3) Faculty’s emotional intelligence moderates the relationship between interpersonal conflict and turnover intention.