PhD Defence Albert Ferenc Dongó

Abstract

In the era of the knowledge economy, designers of an organization’s control system need to consider the effective dissemination of knowledge and information. This dissertation focuses on two frequently used control mechanisms to examine the motivational factors influencing cooperative activities. First, providing relative performance information can hinder knowledge sharing, driven by motives such as social comparison and impression management; however, this effect is mitigated when knowledge requests are made anonymously rather than identifiably (Chapter 2). In addition, the interaction between the type of relative performance information and the anonymity of the knowledge requesters determines the presence and nature of reciprocity considerations, thus affecting knowledge sharing behavior (Chapter 3). Finally, uncertainty plays an important role in team decision-making settings where one team member possesses private information. The presence of peer performance evaluations seems to mitigate the effect of information uncertainty on team processes, such as decision quality (Chapter 4). To conclude, a variety of factors influence team dynamics with regard to information and knowledge sharing. These factors can be effectively channeled through an insightful design of the management control system.