Influences of intra- and interorganizational IT innovations on knowledge sharing and team creativity: Evidence from construction projects in China

Knowledge sharing (KS) and team creativity are crucial to achieving complex goals in a construction project. However, in the information age, there is a lack of research on exploring the influencing mechanisms among two dimensions of information technology (IT) innovations (i.e., intra- and interorganizational IT innovations) and two types of KS (i.e., tacit and explicit KS), along with team creativity in construction projects. Therefore, this paper builds a theoretical model of the relationships among the aforementioned variables. To validate the feasibility of this model, 289 valid questionnaires from the construction industry in China are analyzed. Results indicate that the influence of interorganizational IT innovation on team creativity is significant, and the influence is partially mediated by tacit and explicit KS. The influence of intraorganizational IT innovation on team creativity is significant, and the influence is partially mediated by explicit KS but not tacit KS. This study addresses the controversial issue of whether or how IT can promote tacit KS. This study also provides fresh insights into the influencing mechanisms of team creativity in construction projects owing to changes in the KS level affected by organizational IT innovations. There are also important practical implications relating to how project managers may rationally use IT to enhance KS and team creativity.