Purpose

Drawing on job demands and resources theory and the challenge-hindrance stressor framework, this study aims to investigate the effect of team knowledge complexity on team information sharing and information searching and examine whether team learning goal orientation mediates these effects.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted two studies. Study 1 used a field survey study conducted among 374 employees positioned in 68 new product teams. Study 2 used a three-wave online survey study conducted among 208 leaders to investigate the teams they managed.

Findings

The findings of the two studies reveal that team knowledge complexity has a positive direct effect on team information sharing and information searching. Furthermore, team learning goal orientation mediates these two relationships.

Practical implications

The findings indicate that team knowledge complexity is generally beneficial for the team information process. Therefore, instead of fearing an increase in the knowledge complexity of the projects, organizations should dare to present challenge demands to team members to enhance their engagement in information processing. Organizations could also pay attention to team member selection during team composition processes. For example, selecting team members with a high level of learning goal orientation is helpful in facilitating team information processing.

Originality/value

Although previous studies have found that knowledge complexity is beneficial for team output, less is known about how knowledge complexity influences team processes. This study clarifies the relationships between team knowledge complexity, information sharing and information searching and examines team learning goal orientation as a vital mediator.

中文翻译：

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知识复杂性与团队信息处理：团队学习目标导向的中介作用

目的

本研究利用工作需求和资源理论以及挑战-阻碍压力源框架，研究团队知识复杂性对团队信息共享和信息搜索的影响，并检验团队学习目标导向是否在这些影响中起中介作用。

设计/方法/方法

作者进行了两项研究。研究 1 使用了对 68 个新产品团队的 374 名员工进行的实地调查研究。研究 2 使用对 208 位领导者进行的三波在线调查研究来调查他们管理的团队。

发现

两项研究的结果表明，团队知识复杂性对团队信息共享和信息搜索具有积极的直接影响。此外，团队学习目标导向介导了这两种关系。

实际影响

研究结果表明，团队知识复杂性通常有利于团队信息处理。因此，与其担心项目的知识复杂性增加，组织应该敢于向团队成员提出挑战要求，以提高他们在信息处理中的参与度。组织还可以在团队组成过程中关注团队成员的选择。例如，选择具有高水平学习目标导向的团队成员有助于促进团队信息处理。

原创性/价值

虽然之前的研究发现知识复杂性有利于团队产出，但对于知识复杂性如何影响团队流程知之甚少。本研究阐明了团队知识复杂性、信息共享和信息搜索之间的关系，并将团队学习目标导向作为重要的中介进行了检验。