Within-Team Variation of Shared Knowledge Structures: A Business Performance Study

This pre-post exploratory study looks at the interplay between individual and team level knowledge structures, proposing a new method for conceptualizing and operationalizing within team knowledge variation. This research quantitatively analyzes variation between an individual´s knowledge organization versus their team´s shared knowledge structure. Team process success is measured by financial results as teams compete in a dynamic ERP simulation market. Higher team knowledge structure metrics are found to be insufficient indicators of success when high within-team variation exists. Contrasting individual-level versus team-level business process knowledge provides a rich explanation for team performance outcomes. Initial findings show that high with-in team variance results in lower performance in comparison to teams with low within-team variance of knowledge structures. This finding is supported even when high-variance teams contain a highly knowledgable individual. This study suggests that teams with high similiarity of shared team knowledge structures achieve better team financial performance.