Collaborative Research: Retaining organizational knowledge in connective and communal transactive

University Of Southern California, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

This is a cross-cultural study of how groups and organizations retain and share organizational knowledge via transactive memory (TM) systems. TM systems are knowledge retention systems focused not on knowledge per se but on knowledge about where knowledge resides. The study is original in three key ways. First, it bridges the divide between organizational behavior and information systems by investigating the interplay between human TM systems (i.e., one-to-one human connections) and technological TM systems (i.e., one-to-many communal, cyberenabled systems). Second, it examines how human affect influences the development and functioning of TM systems at multiple levels: between individuals, among groups and throughout networks of individuals and groups. Third, it examines the development and usage of connective and communal TM systems in different nations: US and China. In addition to testing theories related to TM, the results of this research should help teams, their managers, their organizations, and their networks of partners to better manage crucial knowledge resources, including insights about how best to deal with cultural differences in a globalizing economy.