The Impact of Team-Member Exchange on the Intra-Team Knowledge Sharing: The Role of Intra-Team Trust and Psychological Ownership

Abstract

In the globalising world, knowledge is accepted as the most important source of competition. Ownership and effective management of knowledge by the businesses are of great importance in terms of maintaining their existence. In this context, knowledge sharing by the employees with the organisation is of vital importance for the success of the businesses and it is also a moral responsibility. Significant responsibilities fall upon managers and team members with relation to share of knowledge owned by the employees. In this study, it has been aimed to measure the impact of team-member exchange on intra-team knowledge sharing process and to discover empirically the roles of intra-team trust and psychological ownership in such relation. In this line, data have been collected from 179 employees (29 teams) of an establishment operating in various sectors in Istanbul. According to the results of the research, team-member exchange has positive impact on intra-team knowledge sharing process. Moreover, intra-team trust and psychological ownership have positive impact on intra-team knowledge sharing and they have a moderating role in the relation between team-member exchange and intra-team knowledge sharing.