Role of knowledge conversion and social networks in team performance

Abstract

This study aims to find out how different processes of knowledge management and patterns of social networking affect team performance. Our data on teams originate from a sample of different organizations from a variety of both public and private industries in Finland (76 teams; 499 employees). One of the main deficiencies in the current literature on knowledge and networks is that they tend to concentrate on specific types of teams in a single organization context. Our aim was to put the team phenomenon into an everyday context by analysing the interplay of knowledge creation and social networks in teams which function on a permanent basis in a variety of industry contexts. Both knowledge creation and social networking contributed to performance, but the results showed that whereas team members see the knowledge conversion processes as central to performance, top management emphasize the importance of social networks in value creation. In our examination, lively interaction between team members, combined with team leaders’ intra-organizational networks, contributed to team performance.