Knowledge Sharing in Cross-Functional Teams and its Antecedents: Role of Mutual Trust as a Moderator

Growth and success of an organisation are primarily dependent on its ability to develop, leverage, and utilise its knowledge base. This study developed a model to test the impact of antecedents of knowledge Sharing (KS) on team performance. The antecedents were classified as organisational characteristics (structure, learning culture, employee training, reward system, top management support) and individual characteristic (emotional intelligence). The study is based on data collected with the help of structured questionnaires from 582 team members working under 69 teams in 26 surveyed organisations in India. Results suggest that high emotional intelligence increases the extent of KS and hence, has positive impact on team performance among cross-functional team members. Moreover, mutual trust among team members moderates KS behaviour and team performance. Thus, findings confirm the applicability and predictive power of the proposed model. Furthermore, this model contributes to the literature of predicting KS practices in cross-functional projects.