It’s mine but you took it: The negative consequences of knowledge theft

If you’ve ever shared an idea in confidence with a colleague only to have them turn around and use it as their own, or had a colleague or teammate take credit for your work or ideas, you’re not alone. You are among the many people who have experienced knowledge theft – the intentional, deliberate claim of ownership of someone else’s work or ideas. In multiple studies with over 1500 participants from Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, our research shows that knowledge theft is relatively widespread, with one study demonstrating that 91% of participants report being a victim, witness, or perpetrator of knowledge theft.

For victims and organizations, the effects of knowledge theft go beyond the theft itself. We show that there are downstream consequences as victims try to protect themselves from future victimization. For example, they may purposely hide knowledge or stay silent when colleagues ask for help or information. We also find that victims of knowledge theft are more likely to retaliate by insulting, ignoring, or intentionally starting an argument with coworkers. And these retaliatory actions are not exclusive to the organization where the theft happened – victims carried the negative effects of knowledge theft, and associated retaliatory behaviours, to their next job.

For organizations, many of whom actively promote and encourage knowledge sharing, the effects are likely to manifest in a toxic organizational culture and encouraging the sharing of ideas isn’t enough to mitigate it. Instead, leaders and colleagues need to be proactive about recognizing those who speak up when they see knowledge theft happening, adopting an ‘if you see something, say something approach’.David Zweig, Alycia Damp & Kristyn A. Scott (2025). It’s mine but you took it: knowledge theft as a barrier to organizational knowledge management efforts (external link) . Journal of Knowledge Management, 29 (6), 1835–1856. DOI: 10.1108/JKM-07-2023-0653