1. Influence of Psychological Safety and Confidence on Employee Knowledge Sharing Enno Siemsen Aleda V. Roth University of Illinois Clemson University Sridhar Balasubramanian Gopesh Anand University of North Carolina University of Illinois 2007 POMS Conference – May 6, 2007

2. Siemsen, Roth, Balasubramanian & Anand2 Knowledge Sharing Among Individuals “Specify that problems be solved close to their occurrence in time, place, and process, by those affected by the problem…” From Spear and Bowen’s DNA of the Toyota Production System “Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company” From Deming’s 14 points

3. Siemsen, Roth, Balasubramanian & Anand3 Studying Motivation to Share Focus on dyadic relationships within groups –Knowledge provider’s perspective Obstacles to sharing –Hoarding –Inability-to-share Moderators –Belief of knowledge provider –Type of knowledge

4. Siemsen, Roth, Balasubramanian & Anand4 Psychological Safety “… employee’s sense of being able to show and employ one’s self without fear of negative consequences of self-image, status or career” Kahn 1990 “… shared belief that the team is safe for inter-personal risk taking” Edmondson 1999

5. Siemsen, Roth, Balasubramanian & Anand5 Confidence Defined as workers belief that work related knowledge is justified Moderates the effect of Psychological Safety (PS) on Motivation to Share (MS) Possible explanation of Choo et al’s (2007) finding of no relationship between PS and MS

6. Siemsen, Roth, Balasubramanian & Anand6 Group Process Perspective Interaction + + - H1 H2 H3 Psychological Safety (PS) Confidence (CON) Motivation to Share (MS)

7. Siemsen, Roth, Balasubramanian & Anand7 Communication Frequency Social network theory –Strength of employee ties Frequency of interaction and communication Reduction of cost of transfer Tacit knowledge requires strong ties –Sharing codifiable knowledge does not require communication frequency to same extent

8. Siemsen, Roth, Balasubramanian & Anand8 Social Network Perspective Interaction + + - H4 H5 H6 Motivation to Share (MS) Communication Frequency (CF) Codifiability (COD)

9. Siemsen, Roth, Balasubramanian & Anand9 Integrating Group Process and Social Network Perspectives Communication frequency increases comfort level of knowledge provider to take risks –Makes provider feel psychologically safe Explicit knowledge gives higher confidence to knowledge provider in her knowledge

10. Siemsen, Roth, Balasubramanian & Anand10 Interrelationships + + H7 H8 Communication Frequency (CF) Psychological Safety (PS) Codifiability (COD) Confidence (CON)

11. Siemsen, Roth, Balasubramanian & Anand11 Structural and Organizational Antecedents + + - - H10 H12 H11 H9 Nembhard and Edmondson 2006 Roth et al. 1994 Allen 1977 Reagans 2005 Psychological Safety (PS) Communication Frequency (CF) Leadership Consideration (LC) Communication Space (CS) Functional Distance (FD) Locational Distance (LD)

12. Siemsen, Roth, Balasubramanian & Anand12 Complete Model

13. 13 Psych. Safety & Comm. Frequency H 1, 2 & 3 H 4, 5 & 6

14. Siemsen, Roth, Balasubramanian & Anand14 Confidence as Moderator

15. Siemsen, Roth, Balasubramanian & Anand15 Structural and Organizational Antecedents + + - - H10 H12 H11 H9 Nembhard and Edmondson 2006 Roth et al. 1994 Allen 1977 Reagans 2005 Psychological Safety (PS) Communication Frequency (CF) Leadership Consideration (LC) Communication Space (CS) Functional Distance (FD) Locational Distance (LD)

16. 16 Antecedents H 7 H 9 H 10 H11 H12 H 8

17. Siemsen, Roth, Balasubramanian & Anand17 Communicatio n Space (CS) Locational Distance (LD) Functional Distance (FD) Communicatio n Frequency (CF) Codifiability (COD) Leadership Consideration (LC) Confidence (CON) Psychological Safety (PS) Motivation to Share (MS) H1 (+) H2 (+) H3 (-) H4 (+) H5 (+) H6 (-) H7 (+)H8 (+) H9 (+) H10 (+) H11 (-) H12 (-) *** * * * ** *** *** p < 0.01 ** p < 0.05 * p < 0.10 ns Not Supported ns Overall Results

18. Siemsen, Roth, Balasubramanian & Anand18 Implications Identifies contingencies for the effects of Psychological Safety on Knowledge Sharing Relates Group Process Perspective to Social Network Theory Sheds light on managerial decisions that influence communication frequency Confirms importance of leadership in creating psychologically safe environments

19. Siemsen, Roth, Balasubramanian & Anand19 Thank You! Questions and Suggestions

20. Siemsen, Roth, Balasubramanian & Anand20 Supplementary Slides

21. Siemsen, Roth, Balasubramanian & Anand21 Primary Data Three companies + one used for pilot –Web services –Aircraft components –Food n = 191 (subsequently reduced to 188) Response rate 11% to 16% Responses anchored on knowledge sharing incidents Scale validity and reliability tests conducted Common Method Variance checks included

22. Siemsen, Roth, Balasubramanian & Anand22 Scale Items

23. Siemsen, Roth, Balasubramanian & Anand23 Scale Items

24. Siemsen, Roth, Balasubramanian & Anand24 CFA

25. Siemsen, Roth, Balasubramanian & Anand25 Level of Analysis Checks