Designing Collaborative Systems to Enhance Team Performance

Journal of the Association for Information Systems, Vol. 12, No. 8, pp. 556-584, 2011

29 Pages Posted: 16 Oct 2020

See all articles by Xiaojun Zhang

Xiaojun Zhang

Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (HKUST) - Department of Information Systems, Business Statistics and Operations Management

Viswanath Venkatesh

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University - Pamplin College of Business

Sue A. Brown

University of Arizona - Department of Management Information Systems

Date Written: August 27, 2011

Abstract

Collaborative technologies are widely used to enable teams to function effectively in today's competitive business environment. However, prior research has been inconclusive regarding the impacts of collaborative technologies on team performance. To address the inconsistencies in prior work, this paper seeks to understand the mediational mechanisms that transmit the effect of collaborative technologies on team performance. Specifically, we theorize that there is a relationship between design features and knowledge contextualization. We further theorize relationships between knowledge contextualization and a team's capability for collaboration, specifically examining collaboration know-how and absorptive capacity, both of which are expected to influence team performance. We conduct a field study including 190 software project teams from a large organization in China. The results support our theoretical model and demonstrate that design features have an impact on performance outcomes, mediated by collaboration know-how and absorptive capacity.

Keywords: collaborative technologies, design features, collaboration know-how, absorptive capacity, team performance

Suggested Citation

Zhang, Xiaojun and Venkatesh, Viswanath and Brown, Sue A., Designing Collaborative Systems to Enhance Team Performance (August 27, 2011). Journal of the Association for Information Systems, Vol. 12, No. 8, pp. 556-584, 2011, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3681738

Xiaojun Zhang

Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (HKUST) - Department of Information Systems, Business Statistics and Operations Management ( email )

Clear Water Bay
Kowloon
Hong Kong

Viswanath Venkatesh (Contact Author)

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University - Pamplin College of Business ( email )

VA
United States

HOME PAGE: http://vvenkatesh.com

Sue A. Brown

University of Arizona - Department of Management Information Systems ( email )

AZ
United States

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