Trust, Tacit Knowledge Sharing, Project Performance and Their Managerial Implications

Tacit Knowledge Sharing is increasingly attracting attention of scientists and managers intrigued by their potential application for creating innovative solutions. Project management as a set of methodologies and best practices needs to be charged by knowledge. The research problem tackled in this article refers to a current managerial problem regarding tacit knowledge sharing execution in project based organizations. The objective of the article is to examine the structure of relations between variables such as: Trust, Collaborative Culture, Creativity, Personal Branding, and Tacit Knowledge Sharing. This will allow us to investigate the mechanism of dependencies between the listed variables and diagnose factors which determine Tacit Knowledge Sharing. There are numerous scientific papers indirectly pointing to the relationship between these constructs; however, there isn't a work which would present the above relationship directly in one model. For this purpose, authors conducted a study of 514 Polish professionals with different functions and experience in managing projects in the construction industry. The data collected during the study has been analyzed with an equal structural modelling method. The results indicate that the total effect of Tacit Knowledge Sharing on Project Performance is strongly mediated by Personal Branding and Creativity, and influenced by Trust and Collaborative Culture.