Effects of shared leadership on team creativity through knowledge-sharing in an e-learning environment

Main focus of this paper is placed on team creativity. In order for an organization to remain competitive, team creativity level should be controlled to stay higher than an average level that rival companies are believed to show. Beyond managers' control, we emphasize a voluntarily and informally emergent structure and introduce a social network perspective within team creativity. Since a team is composed of individual members, and a certain kind of leadership and trust exist in the team to affect team creativity, it is necessary to investigate relationships between leadership, trust and team creativity in a rigorous way. In this sense, we propose a team creativity model in which shared leadership, interpersonal trust (affect-based trust and cognition-based trust), and knowledge-sharing are included and their subsequent influence on team creativity is analyzed. For the sake of empirical analysis, an e-learning course was administered in a private university, and 40 teams were organized for this study. 249 valid questionnaires were garnered, and analyzed by structural equation model. Results show that shared leadership, knowledge sharing and cognition-based trust significantly influence team creativity.

[1]  D. Sandy Staples,et al.  Exploring the effects of trust, task interdependence and virtualness on knowledge sharing in teams , 2008, Inf. Syst. J..

[2]  Sheila Simsarian Webber,et al.  Development of Cognitive and Affective Trust in Teams , 2008 .

[3]  N. Gillespie,et al.  Transformational leadership and shared values: the building blocks of trust , 2004 .

[4]  Robert W. Zmud,et al.  Behavioral Intention Formation in Knowledge Sharing: Examining the Roles of Extrinsic Motivators, Social-Psychological Factors, and Organizational Climate , 2005, MIS Q..

[5]  M. Merry.  Shared Leadership: Reframing the Hows and Whys of Leadership , 2004 .

[6]  J. Kratzer,et al.  Is trust really social capital? Knowledge sharing in product development projects , 2006 .

[7]  C. Fornell,et al.  Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. , 1981 .

[8]  Hyun-Soo Han,et al.  R&D group characteristics and Knowledge Management activities: a comparison between ventures and large firms , 2006, Int. J. Technol. Manag..

[9]  John J. Sosik,et al.  Transformational Leadership and Dimensions of Creativity: Motivating Idea Generation in Computer-Mediated Groups , 1998 .

[10]  Susan Albers Mohrman,et al.  Designing Team-Based Organizations: New Forms for Knowledge Work , 1995 .

[11]  L. Mamykina,et al.  Collaborative creativity , 2002, CACM.

[12]  G. R. Oldham,et al.  Employee Creativity: Personal and Contextual Factors at Work , 1996 .

[13]  Jing Zhou.  Feedback valence, feedback style, task autonomy, and achievement orientation: Interactive effects on creative performance. , 1998 .

[14]  Bruce J. Avolio,et al.  Leadership Style, Anonymity, and Creativity in Group Decision Support Systems: The Mediating Role of Optimal Flow , 1999 .

[15]  Ramesh K. Agarwal,et al.  A MODEL OF CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION IN ORGANIZATIONS , 2011 .

[16]  Blair H. Sheppard,et al.  The Grammars of Trust: A Model and General Implications , 1998 .

[17]  Sridhar P. Nerur,et al.  An exploratory study on the roles of network structure and knowledge processing orientation in work unit knowledge management , 2007, DATB.

[18]  Todd A. Mooradian,et al.  Who Trusts? Personality, Trust and Knowledge Sharing , 2006 .

[19]  Cristina B. Gibson,et al.  A Healthy Divide: Subgroups as a Stimulus for Team Learning Behavior , 2003 .

[20]  Samer Faraj,et al.  Why Should I Share? Examining Social Capital and Knowledge Contribution in Electronic Networks of Practice , 2005, MIS Q..

[21]  Wei-Li Wu,et al.  Fostering the determinants of knowledge transfer: a team-level analysis , 2007, J. Inf. Sci..

[22]  K. Dirks.  The effects of interpersonal trust on work group performance. , 1999, The Journal of applied psychology.

[23]  Francis Bidault,et al.  Trust and Creativity: Understanding the Role of Trust in Creativity-Oriented Joint Developments , 2009 .

[24]  Scott B. MacKenzie,et al.  Transformational leader behaviors and their effects on followers' trust in leader, satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behaviors , 1990 .

[25]  S. Robinson.  Trust and Breach of the Psychological Contract , 1996 .

[26]  Wynne W. Chin.  The partial least squares approach for structural equation modeling. , 1998 .

[27]  Joachim Funke,et al.  Thinking and problem solving , 2002 .

[28]  R. Peterson,et al.  Task Conflict snd Relationship Conflict in Top Management Teams:The Pivotal Role of Intragroup Trust. , 1998 .

[29]  D. De Clercq,et al.  Human capital, social capital, and innovation: a multi-country study , 2004 .

[30]  L. Argote.  Organizational Learning: Creating, Retaining and Transferring Knowledge , 1999 .

[31]  Brett R. Smith,et al.  Distributed leadership in teams: The network of leadership perceptions and team performance. , 2006 .

[32]  T. Amabile,et al.  Social Influences on Creativity: Evaluation, Coaction, and Surveillance , 1990 .

[33]  M. Deutsch.  Trust and suspicion , 1958 .

[34]  M. Field.  Defying the Crowd: Cultivating Creativity in a Culture of Conformity , 1996 .

[35]  Teresa M. Amabile,et al.  Assessing the Work Environment for Creativity , 1996 .

[36]  Christina E. Shalley,et al.  Effects of coaction, expected evaluation, and goal setting on creativity and productivity , 1995 .

[37]  Russell L. Purvis,et al.  The Assimilation of Knowledge Platforms in Organizations: An Empirical Investigation , 2001 .

[38]  Young-Gul Kim,et al.  Breaking the Myths of Rewards: An Exploratory Study of Attitudes about Knowledge Sharing , 2002, Inf. Resour. Manag. J..

[39]  Ricky W. Griffin,et al.  Toward a Theory of Organizational Creativity , 1993 .

[40]  R. Burke,et al.  Leadership in organizations , 2006 .

[41]  Jozée Lapierre,et al.  Creativity and Work Environment in a High-Tech Context , 2003 .

[42]  E. Kelloway,et al.  Predictors of employees’ perceptions of knowledge sharing cultures , 2003 .

[43]  H. Greve,et al.  Superman or the Fantastic Four? Knowledge Combination and Experience in Innovative Teams , 2006 .

[44]  F. Barron,et al.  The disposition toward originality. , 1955, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[45]  Daniel J. McAllister.  Affect- and Cognition-Based Trust as Foundations for Interpersonal Cooperation in Organizations , 1995 .

[46]  Jing Zhou,et al.  Transformational Leadership, Conservation, and Creativity: Evidence From Korea , 2003 .

[47]  Youngjin Yoo,et al.  Leadership, Social Work, and Virtual Teams: The Relative Influence of Vertical Versus Shared Leadership in the Nonprofit Sector. , 2004 .

[48]  Atreyi Kankanhalli,et al.  Contributing Knowledge to Electronic Knowledge Repositories: An Empirical Investigation , 2005, MIS Q..

[49]  Anne Nelson,et al.  Toward an Understanding of Global Entrepreneurial Knowledge Management (EKM) Practices: A Preliminary Investigation of EKM in France and the U.S , 2006 .

[50]  Adam Brand,et al.  Knowledge Management and Innovation at 3M , 1998, J. Knowl. Manag..

[51]  J. Lewis,et al.  SOCIAL ATOMISM, HOLISM, AND TRUST , 1985 .

[52]  R. Sternberg.  The Nature of creativity : contemporary psychological perspectives , 1988 .

[53]  Ingoo Han,et al.  Knowledge sharing behavior of physicians in hospitals , 2003, Expert Syst. Appl..

[54]  J. H. Davis,et al.  An Integrative Model Of Organizational Trust , 1995 .

[55]  M. Hitt,et al.  Managing Knowledge for Sustained Competitive Advantage: Designing Strategies for Effective Human Resource Management , 2003 .

[56]  K. Jehn.  A Multimethod Examination of the Benefits and Detriments of Intragroup Conflict , 1995 .

[57]  S. Chowdhury,et al.  The role of affect- and cognition-based trust in complex knowledge sharing. , 2005 .

[58]  Michael W. Morris,et al.  FROM THE HEAD AND THE HEART: LOCATING COGNITION- AND AFFECT-BASED TRUST IN MANAGERS' PROFESSIONAL NETWORKS , 2008 .

[59]  R. Sternberg,et al.  The concept of creativity: Prospects and paradigms. , 1998 .

[60]  Margarita Mayo,et al.  SHARED LEADERSHIP IN WORK TEAMS: A SOCIAL NETWORK APPROACH , 2002 .

[61]  Eduardo Salas,et al.  Leadership capacity in teams , 2004 .

[62]  M. Lorenzen.  Creativity in context : Content, cost, chance and collection in the organization of the film industry , 2009 .

[63]  Sharon Bailin.  CREATIVITY IN CONTEXT , 2002 .

[64]  Kevin B. Lowe.  Shared leadership: Reframing the hows and whys of leadership , 2006 .

[65]  Bruce J. Avolio,et al.  Building highly developed teams: Focusing on shared leadership process, efficacy, trust, and performance. , 1996 .

[66]  K. M. Bartol,et al.  Empowering Leadership in Management Teams: Effects on Knowledge Sharing, Efficacy, And Performance , 2006 .

[67]  D. W. Mackinnon.  PERSONALITY AND THE REALIZATION OF CREATIVE POTENTIAL. , 1965, The American psychologist.

[68]  S. Hung,et al.  Social Capital and Creativity in R&D Project Teams , 2007 .