Explaining dyadic expertise use in knowledge work teams: An opportunity-ability-motivation perspective

Organizations use project teams to lower search costs associated with locating expertise by assembling requisite expertise within a single unit. But prior research suggests that availability of expertise in teams does not guarantee its use. When are team members more likely to reach out to their peers for their expertise? To answer this question, this paper develops a theoretical model predicting dyadic expertise use in teams based on the opportunity-ability-motivation framework of behavior in organizations. We argue that 3 complementary conditions influence dyadic expertise use in teams: A focal team member is more likely to use a peer's expertise in a specific domain when the peer is perceived to have valuable expertise (opportunity), when the member is psychologically empowered (motivation), and when the member shares a strong tie with the peer (ability). We tested our framework using a 2-wave dataset consisting of 1,898 observations of dyadic domain-specific peer expertise use based on 71 members rating 166 peers nested within 22 teams. Findings suggest that tie strength and psychological empowerment jointly moderate the relationship between perceived peer expertise level and peer expertise use.