Knowledge Sharing and Performance in Technology R&D Teams: A Mediated Effect of Knowledge Integration

R&D teams develop new techniques and products to raise organizational competitiveness. Thus, understanding how R&D teams perform successfully is the emphasis of this study. The contribution of knowledge sharing is direct when it helps to solve problems in teams. Furthermore, shared knowledge needs to be integrated with members' own knowledge bases when performing R&D tasks. This study analyzes knowledge sharing in team performance with the mediated effect of knowledge integration in technology R&D teams. Our research model is assessed using data from a sample of 100 members of 60 technology R&D teams and is analyzed using partial least squares (PLS) method. The results of this study indicate: (1) Knowledge sharing positively affects team performance in technology R&D teams. (2) Knowledge integration mediates the relationship between knowledge sharing and team performance in technology R&D teams. This study discusses implications for the technology R&D teams based on the results of this study.