A moderated mediation model linking transactive memory system and social media with shared leadership and team innovation

Abstract

This study examines how and to what extent social and technological factors promote shared leadership that leads to team innovation in knowledge work teams. It hypothesizes that a transactive memory system influence team innovation and shared leadership conduits the relationship between them. Additionally, the relationship effectiveness between the transactive memory system and shared leadership increases with the use of social media by team members. Time-lagged, multi-sourced data are collected from the information technology industry in China. In addition, we used a network-based measure to assess the level of shared leadership in teams. Empirical analysis found support for the hypotheses of this study. The results reveal that transactive memory system is a significant predictor of team innovation and the shared leadership channels the relationship between transactive memory system and team innovation. Furthermore, use of social media by team members amplifies the relationship between transactive memory system and shared leadership. The implications of the study are discussed in the later sections.

Keywords: shared leadership; social media use; team innovation; transactive memory system.