Transactive memory system development in virtual teams: the potential role of shared identity and shared context

Abstract

Transactive Memory Systems (TMS) is a concept describing team members' awareness of knowledge possessed by their coworkers, which has been shown to be valuable for team effectiveness in learning, viability, and overall performance [15, 17, 22, 28]. Previous research on TMS has focused primarily on traditional face-to-face teams with only a few studies proposing that TMS development is more difficult in virtual teams. The goal of this research is to study TMS development in virtual teams through an empirical investigation. The first purpose of this research is to examine the impact of two factors -- shared identity and shared context -- on TMS development in virtual teams. Another purpose of this research is to investigate whether computer-mediated communication (CMC) used for group interaction will change the impact of shared identity and shared context. General methodology considerations are stated for future research that will subsequently be conducted.