The Effect of Project Environment on the Relationship between Knowledge Sharing and Team Creativity in the Software Development Context

Abstract

Creativity is an important element of information systems development and is essential for successful software development. The creative work involved in software development is similar to knowledge sharing (KS), which is fundamental to the development of any complex information system. Although research has highlighted many factors that influence individual creativity, there has been little focus on how team-level creativity is determined. Software development teams may exhibit creativity in the interaction of its members. Since creative software development requires teams to share each other’s knowledge, KS becomes an important determinant in team creativity. Project environment is a moderating variable in the present study. Based on a sample of 52 software development teams, direct and moderated relationships between KS and team creativity were tested. The results indicate that KS has a direct effect on team creativity and that the relationship between KS and team creativity is moderated by project environment, where more task-centric KS will be required when the environment is dynamic. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.