IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ororsc/v33y2022i3p1018-1048.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sustaining Effectiveness in Global Teams: The Coevolution of Knowledge Management Activities and Technology Affordances

Author

Listed:
  • Cristina B. Gibson

    (Pepperdine Graziadio School of Business, Pepperdine University, Irvine, California 92612)

  • Patrick D. Dunlop

    (School of Business, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia 6845, Australia)

  • Ann Majchrzak

    (Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089)

  • Terence Chia

    (School of Business, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia 6907, Australia)

Abstract

Despite the dynamic nature of knowledge-related activities and the availability of a variety of communication technologies, many global teams habitually use technology in the same way across activities. However, as teams move through cycles of accumulating, integrating, and implementing knowledge, the purposes for communication technologies change. Current theorizing and empirical work on team knowledge management has yet to develop a dynamic theory that incorporates these changes. By conducting a multiwave, mixed method analysis of 48 global teams, we develop a theory of how global teams sustain effectiveness through technology affordance processes. We found that effective teams are those that recognize cues indicating change is necessary and coevolve a symbiosis between new activities, new purposes for interaction, and new uses of communication technologies. This coevolution of purpose with technology use forms new affordances, which enable the team to move on to new knowledge management activities and sustain effectiveness. Our theory more realistically models the dynamics of staying connected while sharing, combining, and implementing knowledge across the globe.

Suggested Citation

  • Cristina B. Gibson & Patrick D. Dunlop & Ann Majchrzak & Terence Chia, 2022. "Sustaining Effectiveness in Global Teams: The Coevolution of Knowledge Management Activities and Technology Affordances," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(3), pages 1018-1048, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:33:y:2022:i:3:p:1018-1048
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2021.1478
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2021.1478
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/orsc.2021.1478?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:33:y:2022:i:3:p:1018-1048. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.