1. ¹National University of Singapore Business School, Singapore 117592, Singapore
2. ²Duke University, The Fuqua School of Business, Durham, NC 27708-0120, USA

Correspondence: Will Mitchell, Duke University, The Fuqua School of Business, P.O. Box 91020, Durham, NC 27708-0120, USA. Tel: +1 919 660 7994; Fax: +1 919 681 6244; E-mail: Will.Mitchell@duke.edu

Abstract

The organizational memory literature has compared social sources to documentary archives as potential sources of knowledge that decision makers can use when they seek information needed to carry out business activities, but has not considered how an individual's personal stock of relevant knowledge will shape the benefits of such organizational sources of knowledge. This study considers how social interaction, access to documents, and personal knowledge directly and jointly contribute to individual task performance. A multi-stage laboratory experiment finds that task performance increases most when decision makers can talk with colleagues and then from drawing on their own personal knowledge, while books offer benefits only if people lack colleagues and/or personal knowledge. In turn, social interaction and personal knowledge become more important as tasks became more complex. When available in combination, meanwhile, multiple knowledge sources generate only diminishing marginal returns.