How do team cohesion and psychological safety impact knowledge sharing in software development projects?

Abstract

Software development is a process involving conversion of embedded knowledge resident in individuals with diverse domains of specializations into embodied knowledge in the form of a software product. One of the key processes through which this conversion is accomplished is knowledge sharing (KS). In a first of a kind investigation, this study theorizes and tests the direct and interactional impacts of team cohesion (TC) and psychological safety (PS) on KS. The results show that as expected, enhancing PS has a positive direct impact on KS. However, both low levels and, rather unexpectedly, high levels of TC were found to have an adverse direct impact on KS. These findings of the direct impacts of TC and PS on KS are further qualified by the interactional impacts of TC and PS on KS. Although low levels of TC and PS had an antagonistic impact, high levels of TC and PS had a synergistic impact on KS. The implications of these findings for practice are discussed.