The Impact of Communal Knowledge Repositories and People-Based Knowledge Management on Perceptions of Team Effectiveness

Managers have increasingly implemented knowledge databases and knowledge-sharing training to improve team effectiveness. The authors examine whether intranet-based repository use and perception of accurate team knowledge of who knows what were related to perceived team effectiveness. They found that the perception that one's team had accurate who-knows-what knowledge is positively related to perceived team effectiveness. Repository use is not positively related to perceived team effectiveness. Remote work and tenure are not significant moderators of these relationships. These findings imply that perception of an accurate cognitive map of who knows what is more important to perceived team effectiveness than accessing information from repositories, regardless of remote work status or organizational tenure.