Knowledge Sharing in Information Systems Development: A Social Interdependence Perspective

Information systems development (ISD) is typically a knowledge-intensive activity demanding coordinated application of business and information technology (IT) professionals’ expertise. However, knowledge sharing between these groups can be challenging, as their backgrounds and expertise domains differ. The problem is even more pronounced for ISD teams involving external IT consultants, where the gap between business and IT professionals is further widened by organizational boundaries. This study proposes that perceived social (goal, task, and reward) interdependencies can influence the extent of knowledge sharing between the subgroups of business professionals and external IT consultants during ISD. Results from a survey of consultant-and-client matched pairs in ongoing ISD project teams indicate that perceived goal, task, and reward interdependencies are significantly related to knowledge sharing, which is, in turn, related to ISD project phase performance. Knowledge sharing fully mediates the relationships between the interdependencies and ISD project phase performance. Perceived goal interdependence is also related to perceived task interdependence. These findings augment existing theoretical understanding of knowledge sharing in ISD. They also provide directions for the development of interventions for enhancing knowledge sharing and performance in ISD.