Knowledge integration in teams : a systematic knowledge processing perspective

Abstract

Knowledge integration plays an important role in teams, and prior research has found that it can positively influence team performance. However, knowledge integration is not always effective in teams, especially in commonly employed digital-enabled teams. To overcome the barriers to knowledge integration, that team members systematically process individually held knowledge is important. However, prior research on team knowledge integration has neglected to study this issue. We intend to fill this gap by studying the impact of systematic knowledge processing on knowledge integration in teams. Prior studies have studied the factors influencing systematic knowledge processing. Based on the motivated information processing literature, we study the impact of task involvement, time pressure, process accountability, critical norm, and task reflexivity on systematic knowledge processing. Furthermore, the impact of knowledge integration on team performance is likely to be contingent on task interdependence. Thus, another goal of this dissertation is to study whether task interdependence can moderate the relationship between knowledge integration and team performance. Survey data were collected from teams conducting team projects using wikis. Results show that knowledge integration positively affects team performance, and task interdependence can amplify this effect. Knowledge integration is positively related to systematic knowledge processing, and systematic knowledge processing is positively related to task involvement, task reflexivity, and critical norm. However, time pressure and process accountability do not appear to affect systematic knowledge processing. Implications on practice and further research are also discussed.