Objective:

This study aimed to examine the negative relationship between leaders' self-destructive syndrome and employee flourishing, as well as the mediating role of knowledge hiding in weakening this relationship.



Methodology:

This study employed a quantitative, descriptive-survey research design. The sample consisted of 186 employees of Lorestan University who were selected through random sampling. Data were collected using the standardized questionnaires of leadership self-destructive syndrome (Klonsky & Ames, 1987), knowledge hiding (Serenko & Bontis, 2016), and workplace flourishing (Samiei et al., 2014). The validity of the instruments was confirmed through convergent validity and the Fornell–Larcker criterion for discriminant validity, while reliability was established using Cronbach's alpha and composite reliability coefficients, all of which exceeded the acceptable threshold of 0.70. Data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS and SPSS software.



Findings:

The results indicated that leaders' self-destructive syndrome had a significant negative effect on employee flourishing in the workplace (β = −0.547, T = 6.467). In addition, leaders' self-destructive syndrome had a significant positive effect on knowledge hiding (β = 0.935, T = 5.798). Furthermore, knowledge hiding exerted a significant negative effect on employee flourishing (β = −0.334, T = 2.523). Finally, the mediation analysis revealed that knowledge hiding significantly mediated the relationship between leaders' self-destructive syndrome and employee flourishing in the workplace.



Conclusion:

This study offers a novel perspective on understanding the psychological roots of knowledge hiding by moving beyond knowledge-based explanations and focusing on the underlying leadership-related factors that foster such behavior.