Understanding Team Knowledge Production: The Interrelated Roles of Technology and Expertise

Abstract

Teamwork is an increasingly important aspect of knowledge production. In particular, factors influencing team formation relative to the composition of expertise are crucial for both organizational performance and for informing policy. In this paper, I draw attention to technology access as a highly influential factor impacting expertise in team formation. I examine the hack of Microsoft Kinect as an exogenous event that suddenly reduced motion-sensing technology costs. I show that great reductions in technology costs substitute for ex ante optimal involvement of area specialists and facilitate involvement of outside-area specialists through collaboration with researchers with broader knowledge—generalists. In other words, technology costs influence the composition of expertise in teamwork, with sufficiently large reductions leading to knowledge creation that combines more broadly across knowledge areas. These findings have important implications for organizations and policy makers in crafting incentives f...