Leadership and trust: Their effect on knowledge sharing and team performance

Team leaders who facilitate knowledge sharing and engender trust contribute to team effectiveness. While the separate effects of leadership, trust and knowledge sharing on team performance are well documented, few scholars have investigated the specific links between these factors. This study examines the relationship between the leader as the knowledge builder, trust in the leader and in the team, knowledge sharing and team performance. Surveys were collected from 34 engineering project teams (n=166 team members, 30 team leaders) and 18 managers in a large automotive organization. The results indicate that by building the team’s expertise, leaders enhance team members’ willingness to rely on and disclose information in the team, which in turn increases team knowledge sharing. Team knowledge sharing significantly predicted leaders’ and managers’ ratings of team performance. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.