Investigating collective learning in teams: The context in which it occurs and the collective knowledge that emerges from it

A rising theoretical theme has been the social process of learning, and the collective knowledge it develops in collectivities. However, theoretical and qualitative research has dominated research in this area, and there have been few systematic empirical studies of collective learning. Hence, in an attempt to rectify the research void, this dissertation examined collective learning in teams. Specifically, it investigates the (1) social and structural contexts that foster collective learning; (2) types of collective knowledge—team mental models and routines—that are associated with collective learning; and (3) team performance effects of collective learning and collective knowledge.; Two studies were conducted, a case study of four teams from a financial services firm, and a Web-based survey of seventy-eight teams from four firms. Both qualitative and quantitative findings revealed that collective learning was positively related to team cohesion, scanning, and participatory decision-making. This suggests collective learning flourishes in teams with strong social integration, and structural practices that channel and surface requisite input variety.; Collective learning was positively associated with collective knowledge in the team, particularly, complexity in task knowledge and accuracy of transactive memory system. This suggests collective learning is not only a generative process that expands knowledge in the team, but also a directory updating process that allows members to update their mental map about members' expertise.; As expected, team performance varied with collective learning and collective knowledge. It was positively related to collective learning and accuracy of transactive memory system, but negatively related to overlap in task knowledge. Greater shared knowledge is therefore detrimental to team performance. However, complexity in task knowledge was positively related to team performance when overlap in task knowledge was high, suggesting that shared knowledge is important to harness the breadth of knowledge in the team.; For collective learning research, these findings highlight the importance of collective learning to team performance, and the social and structural contexts in which collective learning flourishes. For collective knowledge research, these findings highlight that collective learning is central to the development of collective knowledge, and different types of collective knowledge have different associations with team performance.