The influence of team knowledge sourcing on team creativity : Evidences from information system development

Purpose – In a knowledge economy where innovation is a way for an organization to gain a competitive advantage, team creativity becomes an important factor of success. This paper aims to look at how a team's creativity is influenced by the degree of the team's knowledge sourcing. Design/methodology/approach – A theoretical model is developed and tested to assess the influence of four main antecedents of team knowledge sourcing and creativity: learning orientation, intellectual demands, risk aversion, and relational capital. The research model is tested using PLSPM. Findings – The findings show the significant influence of all the independent variables, but more particularly the strong influence of learning orientation on team knowledge sourcing and on team creativity. Research limitations/implications – Team creativity was examined as team member perceptions of the creative processes in the team task. Data were gathered from graduate students working in a team on an e‐commerce development project. The data set was relatively small (148). Despite these limitations, the initial findings show some interesting patterns that will be worth investigating on a larger scale and in various environments. Practical implications – The results provide considerable support for the idea that knowledge sourcing and the learning orientation of the team members can play an important role in supporting team creativity. Originality/value – This research adapts the construct of knowledge sourcing from Gray and Meister to the team level of analysis. It conceptualizes the perspective that individually held knowledge influences creativity primarily through the process of knowledge sourcing (internal and external) at the team level.