Research On The Influence Of Individual Learning And Knowledge Sharing On Team Structure And Members' Innovative Behavior

Toward the fierce competition and differentiated demands,innovation is imperative for Chinese IT-enabled service firms.In this context,how to design the team structure and how to inspire employees' innovative behavior become the major problems for managers.Therefore,this dissertation try to study the effects of knowledge sharing and individual learning on team structure and innovative behavior.Practically,this dissertation provides some useful suggestions for managers of IT-enabled service firms.Theoretically,it makes some contributions in the related research.The whole research consists of three studies: the first study is about team structure for innovation projects in IT-enabled service industry from communicating and learning cost perspective;the second study is the research on the mediating effect of individual learning on the relationship between knowledge sharing and innovative behavior;the third study is about the impact of espoused national cultural values on innovative behavior.In the first study,based on knowledge-based hierarchy,this study treats innovation process as problem-solving process microscopically.The cost of communicating and learning knowledge was uesed to measure the efficiency of knowledge sharing and individual learning,and then an optimizing model was established to maximize the profit of a given project,through which the optimal team structure for different innovative complexity was obtained.Furthermore,this study analysed the effect of communicating and learning cost,and the innovative complexity of projects on the optimal team structure.It has been found that IT-enabled service firms should focus on the efficiency of knowledge sharing and learning ability.Specifically,learning ability is the most important factor for IT-enabled service firms to increase their innovative ability.The results provide a theoretical support for optimal team structure,and provide guidance for managers to increase the utilization of human resource and knowledge resource.Based on the conclusions of the first study and prior researches on knowledge sharing and innovative behavior,the research model of the mediating effect of individual learning between knowledge sharing and innovative behavior was constructed in the second study.There are commonly three pervasive types of ownership—state-owned,private,and foreign corporations in C hinese IT-enabled service industry.Because IT-enabled servicefirms with different ownerships correspondingly differ in institutions and management systems,it is necessary to test the research model using the data from firms with different types of ownership separately.It was found that knowledge sharing significantly influenced individual learning in IT-enabled service firms with different ownerships;the mediating effect of individual learning was different in IT-enabled service firms with different ownerships.Specifically,in state-owned IT-enabled service firms,knowledge sharing didn't have a direct impact on innovative behavior,and it influenced the innovative behavior completely mediated by individual learning;however,in private and foreign firms,knowledge sharing had both direct impact and indirect impact on innovative behavior.Therefore,IT-enabled service firms must highly emphasize on individual learning.Particularly,managers of state-owned firms should recognize that increasing knowledge sharing alone may not facilitate innovation effectively.As an extension of the second study,the third study integrated employees' espoused power distance and individualism/collectivism into the research model,and investigated their different moderating effect on the relationship between individual learning and innovative behavior in C hinese IT-enabled service firms.It was found that espoused power distance had significant positive moderating effect state-owned and private firms,such that the relationship between individual learning and innovative behavior was stronger for individuals with high espoused power distance cultural value.Although previous research has indicated that individualism is positively associated with innovative behavior,it was found that the relationship between individual learning and innovative behavior was stronger for individuals with espoused collectivistic cultural value in state-owned firms in this study;but this moderating effect was not significant in private and foreign firms.This suggests that the managers should recognize the importance of employees' espoused national culture,and design appropriate strategies according to the organizational context.Finally,the conclusion is drawn and relevant management suggestions are brought forth.Some advice are given for future research.