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  "abstract": "A management-systems argument that deliberate knowledge dependency is not job security. Durable value comes from transferable capability, resilient services, and moving on to harder problems.",
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    "name": "Tony Malott",
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      "text": "Tony spent fifteen years in the United States Air Force and about twenty-five years in corporate America."
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      "text": "Expertise strengthens an organization, while deliberate dependency makes it fragile."
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      "text": "Bus factor describes continuity risk from concentrated contributor knowledge, and relevant knowledge channels extend beyond source code."
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      "caveat": "Do not equate the research definition with every undocumented task or all knowledge hoarding.",
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      "text": "Knowledge hiding is intentional concealment of knowledge that another person has requested."
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      "text": "A 2025 meta-analysis used 267 independent samples from 248 primary studies and found significant relationships involving knowledge-hiding antecedents and psychological, behavioral, and performance-related outcomes."
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      "caveat": "Cross-sectional and context-specific; not a universal causal law.",
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      "text": "In one study of 194 employees, self-serving behavior mediated the observed relationship between fear of losing power and knowledge hiding, while personal competitiveness amplified the indirect relationship."
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      "text": "Leaders can create incentives that make dependency-preserving behavior appear rational."
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      "caveat": "Small, domain-specific survey of intention.",
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      "text": "In a survey of 100 spreadsheet users, perceived codification effort predicted lower knowledge-sharing intention, while reputational gains predicted higher sharing intention."
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      "text": "A 2025 randomized field experiment involving 6,000 knowledge workers found that integrated generative-AI access reduced email time and appeared to accelerate document completion moderately, while meeting time did not significantly change."
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      "text": "Documentation alone is insufficient; the operational goal is verified capability transfer."
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      "text": "Intentional preservation of dependency after coaching, clear expectations, tools, time, recognition, and a reasonable transfer plan can become a performance and trust issue."
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      "caveat": "Not a validated universal performance metric.",
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      "text": "Operational continuity during an employee's vacation can demonstrate service resilience and readiness for larger responsibility."
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