Personal constructs affecting interpersonal trust and willingness to share knowledge between architects in project design teams

Abstract

Architectural design is a knowledge-intensive activity. However, architects are not always willing to share their knowledge with their team members. Based on a literature review and in-depth interviews, this research identifies and validates factors as well as the underlying personal constructs that influence architects' interpersonal trust and willingness to share their knowledge in project design teams in China. The results of triangulation data analysis show that there are four factors affecting both interpersonal trust and willingness to share knowledge, i.e. 'team member's attitude towards work', 'team member's ability with regard to work', 'team member's personality' and 'team member's social interaction'. Contrary to previous findings, interpersonal trust is not identified as an individual factor influencing willingness to share knowledge. The personal constructs underlying each factor e.g. 'hard working-lazy when working', etc. are summarized and can be employed as measurement scales in designing future quantitative research, i.e. the explanatory study. Moreover, the identified personal constructs provide directions for the management in architectural design institutes to encourage knowledge sharing behaviour among architects.