¹School of Management, University of Southampton, Southampton, U.K.

Correspondence: Jaw-Kai Wang, School of Management, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ, U.K. Tel.: +44 0 23 8059 3076; Fax: +44 0 23 8059 3844; E-mail: j.wang@soton.ac.uk

Received 23 August 2005; Accepted 6 June 2006.

Abstract

This paper empirically examines knowledge sharing within innovation teams and explores the relationship between knowledge sharing and trust. This relationship has generally been identified in the literature as an important aspect of knowledge management. However, its pertinence to knowledge transfer within and between teams is less obvious. The case study based on four information technology R&D teams in Taiwan suggests that trust between a knowledge holder and a receiver may not exist. In fact, it can be connected by a mediator, although the use of social relationship in which trust is rooted in both host and visitor's trust of the mediator. Thus, trust may be substituted by the social relationship in certain specific contexts.