Science Research Management ›› 2014, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (6): 145-153.

Previous Articles     Next Articles

An investigation of impact mechanism of transactive memory system on knowledge sharing—Empirical evidence from open source software project teams

Chen Xiaogang1, Li Xue2, Cui Ying'an3   

  1. 1. School of Business Administration, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu 611130, Sichuan, China;
    2. International Business School, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710119, Shanxi, China;
    3. School of Computer Science and Engineering, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an 710048, Shanxi, China
  • Received:2012-08-21 Revised:2013-07-17 Online:2014-06-25 Published:2014-06-23

Abstract: From the perspective of transactive memory system (TMS), the study examined the relationships among knowledge differentiation, knowledge location, knowledge credibility, communication quality, and knowledge sharing within open source software (OSS) teams. By analyzing data from 156 OSS developers, we found that knowledge location and credibility of TMS had positive impacts on communication quality, which, in turn, had a positive impact on knowledge sharing. Furthermore, the results showed that communication quality fully mediated the relationship between knowledge location and credibility of TMS and knowledge sharing. The findings of this study have implications for research and practice in the field of OSS.

Key words: open source software project teams, transactive memory system, communication quality, knowledge sharing

CLC Number: