Team Transactive Memory Systems Research Articles

The relationship among the innovation environment, transactive memory system of the R&D team, and knowledge collaboration

The innovation environment is the basis for the operation of the innovation ecosystem. In an era where knowledge resources are increasingly recognized as core assets, the advent of transactive memory system (TMS) has significantly enhanced the knowledge collaboration among R&D (Research & Development) teams, thereby boosting their innovation performance. Based on the empirical analysis of 235 valid questionnaires, this paper explores the relationship among the innovation environment, R&D Team's TMS, and knowledge collaboration. The results show that: (1) the Innovation environment has a direct and significant positive effect on the team's TMS and knowledge collaboration; (2) Team's TMS has some direct and significant positive effects and mediating effects on Knowledge Collaboration, and the Coordination of team's TMS has no significant effect on the Knowledge Integration process of Knowledge Collaboration; (3) The innovation environment can indirectly affect the knowledge collaboration process through the Specialization and Credibility of the TMS. This study further enriches the relevant research in the field of knowledge management and provides theoretical support and countermeasures for enterprises to promote innovation and development by optimizing knowledge management.

Linking the top management team transactive memory system, strategic flexibility and digital business model innovation: a dynamic capabilities perspective

ABSTRACT This study applies the dynamic capabilities perspective to explore how the top management team transactive memory system affects digital business model innovation through strategic flexibility. It proposes hypotheses regarding the relationships between the top management team transactive memory system, strategic flexibility, and digital business model innovation. Furthermore, it tests these hypotheses using the Structural Equation Model and the Bootstrapping method for the data collected from 205 Chinese firms. The results show that the top management team transactive memory system has a significant positive impact on strategic flexibility and digital business model innovation; the top management team transactive memory system can influence digital business model innovation through strategic flexibility. These findings provide a new dynamic capabilities framework for digital business model innovation from the perspective of top management team cognition and contribute to the literature on digital business model innovation from a dynamic capabilities perspective. They also provide insight into how firms can build dynamic capabilities to promote digital business model innovation.

Corporate sustainable development performance through top management team's transactive memory system and organizational resilience: A moderated mediation analysis

Addressing the measurement of corporate sustainable development performance (SDP) in economic, social, and environmental dimensions is a pressing global challenge. This study investigates the intrinsic impact mechanisms of the top management team's transactive memory system (TMT TMS) on SDP within Chinese manufacturing firms. It extends the analysis by introducing opportunity alertness (OA) as a moderating variable and organizational resilience (OR) as a mediating variable. Notably, OA was found to have a moderating mediation effect on the TMT TMS-OR-SDP pathway. Data from 294 executives was collected through non-probability convenience sampling. Initially, exploratory factor analysis was conducted utilizing SPSS; confirmatory factor analysis was performed with the aid of AMOS. Additionally, hierarchical regression and the SPSS PROCESS macro were employed to test the hypothesized models and paths of influence. The results illuminate the positive impact of TMT TMS on SDP through the enhancement of OR, a relationship further strengthened by OA. This study adds to the theoretical understanding and offers practical insights for optimizing TMT TMS and OA to achieve corporate sustainable development.

Human-AI teaming: leveraging transactive memory and speaking up for enhanced team effectiveness.

In this prospective observational study, we investigate the role of transactive memory and speaking up in human-AI teams comprising 180 intensive care (ICU) physicians and nurses working with AI in a simulated clinical environment. Our findings indicate that interactions with AI agents differ significantly from human interactions, as accessing information from AI agents is positively linked to a team's ability to generate novel hypotheses and demonstrate speaking-up behavior, but only in higher-performing teams. Conversely, accessing information from human team members is negatively associated with these aspects, regardless of team performance. This study is a valuable contribution to the expanding field of research on human-AI teams and team science in general, as it emphasizes the necessity of incorporating AI agents as knowledge sources in a team's transactive memory system, as well as highlighting their role as catalysts for speaking up. Practical implications include suggestions for the design of future AI systems and human-AI team training in healthcare and beyond.

Team idiosyncratic deals and team breakthrough innovation: Based on the perspective of input-process-output model.

PurposeAs a new human resource management practice, idiosyncratic deals are personalized employment arrangements negotiated between employees and employers and intended to benefit them both. It plays an important role in attracting, retaining and motivating employees to promote breakthrough innovation. Based on the input-process-output (I-P-O) model, this paper examines the relationship between team idiosyncratic deals and team breakthrough innovation, the mediating role of team exploratory-exploitative knowledge sharing, and the moderating roles of team transactive memory systems and team cognitive flexibility.Participants and methodsIn order to reduce the effects of common method biases and causal lag effect, this study is divided into three stages for data collection, with a time interval of 1 month. Eighty teams (406 employees) from six enterprises in Shanghai and Hangzhou were selected as samples, and the hypothesis test was carried out by hierarchical regression analysis, bootstrap, and Johnson-Neyman method.ResultsThe results show that higher team idiosyncratic deals are associated with higher team breakthrough innovation through higher team exploratory-exploitative knowledge sharing, and that team transactive memory systems and team cognitive flexibility positively moderate the mediating effect of team exploratory-exploitative knowledge sharing in the relationship between team idiosyncratic deals and team breakthrough innovation in the first stage and the second stage, respectively. Under the joint effect of high team transactive memory systems and high team cognitive flexibility, the mediating effect of team exploratory-exploitative knowledge sharing is stronger.ConclusionThe research results break through the previous research framework of social exchange theory, and I-P-O model to explore the influence mechanism of team idiosyncratic deals, in order to promote the sustainable growth of team breakthrough innovation through this non-standard work arrangement. It is hoped that this research can inspire modern enterprises to create team idiosyncratic deals for valuable teams engaged in breakthrough innovation, which are more conducive to give full play to their heterogeneous talents, and finally help enterprises break through the industry bottleneck and win the market competition.

Team Reflexivity, Team Adaptive Behavior, and the Role of Tensions in Agile Teams

Engaging in reflective practices and consequently adapting their behavior is essential for agile teams to be successful. However, the mechanisms and contextual factors on how team reflexivity translates to team adaptive behavior are still rather unexplored. Building on social cognitive theory, we argue that transactive memory systems (TMS) might have an explanatory impact, i.e., that team reflexivity positively affects team adaptive behavior through TMS, and that this effect is contingent on the level of agile tensions that the teams experience. We draw on a multi-respondent, time-lagged quantitative team study with 100 agile teams working in large German organizations. We find that team reflexivity enhances teams’ TMS, which consequently has a positive effect on team adaptive behavior. Moreover, our results reveal that the relationship between team reflexivity and TMS and the indirect effect are moderated by the level of agile tensions that the studied agile teams experience such that a lower level of agile tensions is more beneficial for agile teams than a higher level.

Looking Beyond the Team: Team Member Behaviors After a Transactive Memory Intervention

Awareness of available expertise in groups directly influences the group performance. Extensive empirical research on transactive memory systems has demonstrated this to be true. While there have been numerous research studies of this phenomenon, there is far less known about how interventions designed to increase transactive memory in natural continuing groups may have impacts beyond the groups. This paper addresses that gap. I provide an overview of transactive memory research and report on a team intervention designed around transactive memory systems theory. Qualitative data was collected through group interviews with participants in this intervention. The results of these interviews indicate that the most significant impacts of within-team transactive memory system awareness are in how team members change their interactions across the team boundary. I define the concept of situated expertise to describe the combination of knowledge awareness, help-seeking actions, and social network awareness needed to convert accurate team transactive memory systems into sustained system-level high performance.

CEO narcissism, top management team transactive memory systems, and firm performance: an upper echelons perspective on CEO admiration and rivalry narcissism

ABSTRACT A growing body of conceptual and empirical research has drawn on transactive memory systems (TMS) theory to understand the functioning of a wide range of teams, including top management teams (TMTs). At the same time, there has been increasing interest in how personality factors, and in particular chief executive officer (CEO) narcissism, shape corporate decision-making, and behaviour in TMTs. However, these streams of research have developed independently from one another. Leveraging a sample of 64 firms, we integrate TMS theory and upper echelons theory to explain how the performance consequences of TMTs are shaped by two competing dimensions of CEO narcissism: admiration-based narcissism and rivalry-based narcissism. CEO narcissism is an important area of research because of the strategic implications of the impact that this personality trait can have on the functioning of the TMT. We find that TMT TMS has a positive influence on firm performance at higher levels of admiration-based narcissism, but not rivalry-based narcissism. With this focus, we provide further substantiation of the firm-performance implications of TMS, and the critical role played by a dimensional focus on CEO narcissism in the TMS context.

Feeling differently, creating together: Affect heterogeneity and creativity in project teams

SummaryDifferently valenced affective states stimulate different information search and processing styles. Dual‐tuning theory suggests that in combination, the styles tuned by positive affect (broad information search and flexible thinking) and by negative affect (persistent detailed search and critical thinking) facilitate creativity better than a single affect alone. Through this lens, we argue that the simultaneous presence of team members experiencing differently valenced affective states (affect heterogeneity) may facilitate team creativity by providing access to more varied information and perspectives. To extract creative benefit from these enhanced informational resources, teams must engage in an information exchange and elaboration process. However, affect heterogeneity may also threaten this process. We suggest that effective information exchange and elaboration is more likely to occur when the team has a well‐developed transactive memory system to legitimize and coordinate the differences flowing from affect heterogeneity among members. We tested our hypotheses among 59 teams in a within‐team design in which we measured team affect heterogeneity, information exchange and elaboration, and creativity in each of 4 weeks of a 13‐week project. Results supported our hypotheses, including the mediating role of information exchange and elaboration, and the moderating role of team transactive memory system.

The mobility of team members and team creativity: exploring the mediating role of team cognition

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate how the mobility of team members affects team creativity in knowledge-worker teams and the mediating role of team transactive memory system (TMS) and team creative efficacy.Design/methodology/approachMultiple surveys were conducted on team leaders and members in knowledge-worker teams in China. A total of 94 teams were analyzed by adopting the confirmatory factor analyses, hierarchical regression analysis and bootstrap analysis method.FindingsThe results show that frequent team member mobility is negatively related to a knowledge-worker team's creativity, and the relationship is mediated by team TMS and creative efficacy.Originality/valueThis study contributes to a deeper understanding of how the mobility of team members affects team creativity in knowledge-worker teams by exploring the underlying mechanisms from the perspective of team cognition. Specifically, team TMS and creative efficacy mediate the relationship between team member mobility and team creativity.

The effect of transactive memory systems on process tailoring in software projects: The moderating role of task conflict and shared temporal cognitions

Contemporary software projects are unique and volatile, leading development teams to modify standard development processes and continue to make adjustments as needed. Adjusting software project development to accommodate the variance and dynamics is called software process tailoring (SPT). Because SPT critically determines how projects are conducted, its performance merits investigation. However, the extant literature lacks empirical evidence of the underlying effects that operate and influence the performance of SPT. Specifically, SPT is a team-based activity that requires the exchange of knowledge and opinions among members to yield an integrative tailoring solution; SPT is also a highly conflicting process involving task and temporal conflicts. Given these characteristics, teams’ operational mechanisms that increase SPT performance remain unknown. To address the aforementioned gaps, this study adopts the transactive memory systems (TMS) theory to develop a research model to explore how a team's TMS affects SPT performance with task conflict and shared temporal cognitions (STC) acting as moderators. By examining 102 software project teams, we found that TMS has a positive impact on SPT performance. Surprisingly, task conflict reduces the effect of TMS on SPT performance, whereas STC amplifies the influence of TMS-SPT performance.

Perceived Subgroups, TMS, and Team Performance: The Moderating Role of Guanxi Perception.

As teams become increasingly common for organizations to accomplish key objectives, improving team performance is a critical challenge for both practitioners and researchers. As researchers have converged on the notion that team performance is strongly influenced by subgroups, scholars have begun to explore how perception of subgroups influence team performance. Thus, in this study, we examined how perceived subgroups influenced the team transactive memory system (TMS), and hence team performance. We also proposed the moderating role of guanxi perception on the relationship between perceived subgroups and TMS. Utilizing two-wave multi-source data from 87 working teams in a Chinese central government-owned corporation, and based on multiple (moderator) hierarchical regression analyses, our results demonstrated that perceived subgroups were a negative predictor of TMS and team performance, and TMS mediated the negative relationship between perceived subgroups and team performance. That is, perceived subgroups inhibited team performance by blocking the development of a robust TMS. In addition, guanxi perception acted as a positive moderator, mitigating the negative relationship between perceived subgroups and TMS. Furthermore, the moderated mediation analysis of the integrative model revealed that the indirect effect of perceived subgroups on team performance via TMS was contingent on guanxi perception. Overall, our findings identified the pivotal role of perceived subgroups, TMS, and guanxi perception in working teams in the Chinese context.

Productivity in an Era of Multi-Teaming

When and why do information dashboards enhance team productivity? We explore this question in the context of project teams whose members have to work across multiple teams at the same time. We expected multi-teaming, especially that involving a high variety in team members, would have a negative effect on team performance by impairing a team's transactive memory system (TMS), a critical form of shared cognition allowing members to keep track of who knows what. Further, we expected the use of an information dashboard with member skills could combat the harmful effects of high-variety multi-teaming. To test our hypotheses experimentally, we developed an online game (Knowledge Worker's Dilemma) that simulates the coordination decisions that professionals face in app development teams. Results show multi-teaming hurt team performance by reducing TMS; use of an information dashboard benefited high-variety teams and, surprisingly, hurt the performance of low-variety teams. Potential explanations and implications are discussed.

Perceived Faultline, TMS and Team Performance: The Moderating Role of Guanxi Perception

This study examines how perceived faultline influences team transactive memory system (TMS), and hence team performance. We also proposed the moderating role of team members’ guanxi perception on the relationship between perceived faultline and TMS. Using two-wave longitudinal multi-source data from 87 working teams in a Chinese central government owned corporation, we found that perceived faultline was a negative predictor of TMS and team performance. In addition, guanxi perception acted as a positive moderator, mitigating the negative relationship between perceived faultline and TMS. Further, the moderated mediation analysis of the integrative model revealed that the indirect effect of perceived faultline on team performance via TMS was contingent on team members’ guanxi perception. Our findings highlighted the pivotal role of perceived faultline, TMS and guanxi perception in working teams in Chinese context.

‘Who Knows What?’ in New Venture Teams: Transactive Memory Systems as a Micro‐Foundation of Entrepreneurial Orientation

AbstractThe increasing importance of entrepreneurial behaviour has led scholars to embrace the idea that an entrepreneurial orientation (EO) is an important predictor of firm performance. While EO occupies a central position in strategic entrepreneurship research, scholars have yet to explore its origins in new ventures. Drawing on the knowledge‐based and cognitive views, we theorize that a new venture team's transactive memory system is a cognitive mechanism that spurs the development of an EO. In a field study of high‐tech new ventures in China, we examined the relationship between venture teams’ transactive memory systems (representing the distribution, integration, and utilization of the teams’ knowledge) and EO and the moderating influence of team‐, firm‐, and environment‐level factors. We found that the transactive memory system of a new venture team enhanced their EO and that this relationship was positively influenced by intra‐team trust, the structural organicity of a venture, and environmental dynamism. Our findings provide novel insights into the micro‐foundations of TMS in developing an EO in new ventures.

The Impact of Perceived Subgroup Formation on Transactive Memory Systems and Performance in Distributed Teams

With distributed teams becoming increasingly common in organizations, improving their performance is a critical challenge for both practitioners and researchers. This research examines how group members' perception of subgroup formation affects team performance in fully distributed teams. The authors propose that individual members' perception about the presence of subgroups within the team has a negative effect on team performance, which manifests itself through decreases in a team's transactive memory system (TMS). Using data from 154 members of 41 fully distributed teams (where no group members were colocated), the authors found that members' perceptions of the existence of subgroups impair the team's TMS and its overall performance. They found these effects to be statistically significant. In addition, decreases in a group's TMS partially mediate the effect of perceived subgroup formation on team performance. The authors discuss the implications of their findings for managerial action, as well as for researchers, and they propose directions for future research.

The influence of team faultlines on team performance: Mediating effect of team transactive memory system

The influence of team faultlines on team performance: Mediating effect of team transactive memory system

Converting Expertise Dissimilarity to Creativity: Impacts of Team TMS and Geographical Dispersion

This study investigates how the transactive memory system (TMS) and geographic dispersion (GD) of an IT project team may impact how an individual member utilizes his or her expertise dissimilarity to stimulate creativity. A cross-level analysis of data from 141 team members and their supervisors in thirty-five IT service project teams revealed that there is a significant three-way interaction between an individual’s expertise dissimilarity, GD, and TMS on individual creativity. Specifically, TMS is important to all teams, but it is particularly essential to low-GD teams: without the support of a well- developed TMS, individual members who possess highly dissimilar expertise to their peer team members are significantly more disadvantaged in terms of creativity when working in a collocated context than in a dispersed context. Our research mainly contributes to a differentiated understanding of (1) GD as a double-edged sword that creates both restraining but also facilitating effects on the individual team member’s creativity and of (2) TMS as a vital team capability that helps overcome the obstacles that expertise-dissimilar employees might face in their pursuit of creativity. These findings highlight the importance of developing a cross-level perspective of TMS and incorporating the GD factor to enrich the current research.

Proactive Team Innovation: An Integrative View of Information Exchange and Supervisor Support

In this article, we argued that proactivity and innovation are two types of interrelated processes of teams. With a multi-level theorizing approach, we specified the positive impact of both individual proactive personality and collective proactivity through the chain of individual information exchange, team transactive memory system (TMS) and individual creativity on team innovation. Besides, supervisory support as an important type of contextual influence moderated several relations throughout the proactive team innovation process. Using a sample with 338 employees of 86 teams from 13 companies, we found support for the proactive team innovation process. In addition, only for teams with low perceived supervisory support differentiation, collective proactivity would be positively associated with individual information exchange and team transactive memory system. And the same contingency effect also applied to the team TMS and individual creativity relationship as well as the TMS and team innovation relationship. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

The Effects of Critical Team Member Assertiveness on Team Performance and Satisfaction

In an effort to extend theory and research linking personality to team effectiveness, this study used the workflow networks literature to investigate the effects of critical team member dispositional assertiveness on team performance and satisfaction. Results from 64 teams working on a command-and-control simulation indicated that critical team member dispositional assertiveness positively affected team performance and team satisfaction. Results also indicated that both of those effects were due to improvements in the team's transactive memory system.