Abstract

The transactive memory systems theory has been a useful tool to explain the processes and outcomes of knowledge sharing in teams. However, the theory has been applied primarily to culturally homogeneous teams and has not addressed unique challenges that multi-cultural work teams face in the development of transactive memory systems. The current research theorizes how multi-cultural teams can develop accurate transactive memory systems and in turn improve their knowledge sharing processes and outcomes. By adopting the research on lay theories in person perceptions, it argues that the incremental view (vis-à-vis the entity view) may have positive impact on both processes (expertise recognition, task coordination, and communication) and outcomes (task performance and socio-emotional experiences) of knowledge sharing in multi-cultural teams. A conceptual framework drawn from both transactive memory systems theory and lay theories offers testable hypotheses for future research and present theoretical and practical implications for multi-cultural work teams.