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Creating knowledge within a team: a socio-technical interaction perspective

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Knowledge Management Research & Practice

Abstract

Creating knowledge within a team for developing new products and services is considered a primary means for improving organizational performance. Drawing upon the socio-technical perspective, we investigate the blended effects of social (learning culture, teamwork quality, and knowledge complexity) and technical (IT support) factors on team-level knowledge creation and team performance. We propose a model that features synergetic interactions between social and technical factors in this knowledge creation process. The model was tested by utilizing data from a field survey of industry managers. The results show significant interactions between social and technical factors, which influence team-level knowledge creation and, in turn, team performance. Our findings can be used to develop socio-technical initiatives to enhance the process of creating team-level knowledge within firms.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Business Administration, Inha University, Incheon, South Korea

    Jinwon Hong & Woojong Suh

  2. Department of Management Science and Information Systems, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA, USA

    One-Ki (Daniel) Lee

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  1. Jinwon Hong
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  2. One-Ki (Daniel) Lee
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  3. Woojong Suh
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Correspondence to Woojong Suh.

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Hong, J., Lee, OK. & Suh, W. Creating knowledge within a team: a socio-technical interaction perspective. Knowl Manage Res Pract 15, 23–33 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1057/kmrp.2015.27

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