The Impact of Transactive Memory Systems on Knowledge Sharing Process Agility and Team Performance : A Study of Agile Software Development Teams

Abstract

This dissertation focuses on how knowledge sharing impacts the performance of agile teams. In particular, we focus on how transactive memory systems (TMS) impact knowledge sharing and how knowledge sharing in turn impacts the agility of a team as well as the team s performance. Prior research has treated TMS as a single construct. We studied whether the dimensions of transactive memory systems, namely, specialization, credibility and coordination have a positive influence on team performance, via explicit knowledge sharing, tacit knowledge sharing and process agility of software development teams. The data for this study was collected using a mixed mode (online and paper based) questionnaire survey, from 265 key informants representing various teams practicing agile software development. Data was analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Our results show that specialization and coordination positively influenced explicit and tacit knowledge sharing, while credibility positively impacted tacit knowledge sharing, and coordination had a direct positive influence on team performance. Further, the study found that explicit and tacit knowledge sharing positively influenced software development process agility, and that, tacit knowledge sharing positively influenced team performance. In addition, we found that process agility positively impacted team performance. This study also revealed that the influence of TMS on process agility was partially mediated by explicit and tacit knowledge sharing. This study showed the importance of coordination and tacit knowledge sharing in improving process agility and team performance. This study has contributed to project management, knowledge management and agile software development theory and practice by extending the relationship of coordination, explicit knowledge sharing and tacit knowledge sharing with process agility. The study also shows that if managers foster coordination and tacit knowledge management in agile software development teams