The influence of knowledge integration on project success: An empirical examination of e-business teams

Although the centrality of mobilizing knowledge assets is widely recognized in resource-based theories of organization, knowledge integration has remained a theoretically under-developed concept. This field study tested the relationship between knowledge integration and e-business project execution success. A team-level theoretical model for knowledge integration was proposed and tested. Based on knowledge-integration theory, the ability of temporary e-business teams to integrate their distributed, specialized knowledge into project-level architectural knowledge was hypothesized to influence project execution success.; The causal relationships among the team's structural context (relational capital, culture, and absorptive capacity), knowledge integration, and execution success were tested in a field study of 135 individuals spanning 35 e-business project teams. Knowledge integration was found to directly and positively influence project execution success. Two of the three dimensions of structural context were found to influence knowledge integration. No support emerged for the widely held beliefs about the influence of team culture and unlearning on knowledge management practices.; This study extends information systems theory in five important ways. First, the influence of knowledge integration on project execution success was confirmed. Second, a new team-level predictive model for knowledge integration was validated. This model provides a theoretical building block for a more comprehensive multi-level theory of knowledge integration in multiplex inter-firm networks. Third, a theoretically integrative measure for knowledge integration was developed. Fourth, the relationship between the structural attributes of temporary teams and knowledge integration was established. Finally, the frame of reference for IS success was conceptually extended and a scale was developed to capture the notion of project adaptation.