Effects of interpersonal trust, team leader support, rewards, and knowledge sharing mechanisms on knowledge sharing in project teams

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of interpersonal trust, team leader support, rewards, and knowledge sharing mechanisms on voluntary knowledge sharing in software development project teams in Sri Lanka. Design/methodology/approach – Survey methodology was used and 150 software developers who were directly involved in developing and maintaining a software product from project teams responded. Regression analysis was used for data analysis. Findings – Interpersonal trust and rewards have significant positive effects on knowledge sharing. Although it was anticipated that the team leader support would be a significant predictor of knowledge sharing, the results did not provide evidence for a positive and significant relationship. “Work-group communications” and “Personal interactions” had significant positive effects on knowledge sharing. Originality/value – It is expected that the findings of this study will provide useful information to better understand the predictors of the extent of knowledge sharing at the individual level in the context of project teams. By doing so, this exploratory study will be able to establish baseline data and would be a source of general guidance in stimulating future research in this area.