To read this content please select one of the options below:

Integrating interorganizational justice to facilitate tacit knowledge sharing in architectural and engineering design projects: a configurational approach

Chuanjing Ju (Department of Business Adminstration, Southeast University, Nanjing, China)
Yan Ning (School of Management and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China)

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management

ISSN: 0969-9988

Article publication date: 18 August 2021

Issue publication date: 24 November 2022

373

Abstract

Purpose

Sharing tacit knowledge across firm boundaries is challenging in architectural and engineering design projects as tacit knowledge is embedded in the designer’s mind. It thus requires autonomous motivation. This study aims to examine how clients integrate distributive justice (DJ), procedural justice (PJ) and interactional justice (IJ) to motivate tacit knowledge sharing in interorganizational architectural and engineering (A/E) design projects.

Design/methodology/approach

A theoretical model was built, describing how the combination of distributive, procedural and interactional justice influences tacit knowledge sharing. This model was then verified using latent profile analysis (LPA) of 360 A/E design projects.

Findings

A total offour subgroups with quantitatively different combinations of distributive, procedural and interactional justice were identified. Within each subgroup, the levels of the three forms of justice were quite aligned. The results indicate that clients often implement interorganizational justice in a collective manner. Among the four subgroups, projects with the highest level of justice combination have a significantly higher level of tacit knowledge sharing than the other three. This indicates that sharing of tacit knowledge is driven by the overall level of interorganizational justice.

Originality/value

The configurational approach complements previous research by presenting how combinations of interorganizational justice influence tacit knowledge sharing in A/E design projects.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers: 71872039, 71602031), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and Southeast University Zhishan Young Scholars Program.

Citation

Ju, C. and Ning, Y. (2022), "Integrating interorganizational justice to facilitate tacit knowledge sharing in architectural and engineering design projects: a configurational approach", Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, Vol. 29 No. 9, pp. 3480-3498. https://doi.org/10.1108/ECAM-01-2021-0019

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

Related articles