Knowledge governance mechanisms and regulatory focus effects on online collective knowledge sharing in project teams

Abstract

In today’s mobile internet era, online knowledge sharing has become increasingly prevalent within project teams. However, fostering online knowledge sharing in practice presents significant challenges, and the underlying psychological mechanisms, particularly concerning online collective knowledge sharing, remain incompletely understood. Given that online collective knowledge sharing occurs within public or collective spheres, a primary goal becomes improving the collective good and achieving shared goals. Consequently, online collective knowledge sharing is conceptualized as a process through which team members pursue both organizational and individually-assigned knowledge goals, which are specified by knowledge governance mechanisms. To explain the psychological mechanism involved in reducing goal discrepancies, regulatory focus theory is employed. Utilizing a dataset of 208 project team members, the study examines the proposed hypotheses and finds that prevention focus, rather than promotion focus, directly contributes to online collective knowledge sharing. Furthermore, prevention focus mediates the relationship between knowledge governance mechanisms and online collective knowledge sharing, while promotion focus strengthens the positive association between prevention focus and knowledge sharing. By revealing these complex dynamics, this study contributes to both project management and knowledge management literature. Moreover, it provides practical insights for knowledge management practices within today’s pervasive online environments.