Coordination and Knowledge Sharing in Construction Project-Based Organization: A Longitudinal Structural Equation Model Analysis

- We study the causal relationship between coordination and knowledge sharing.
- E-mail network analysis method reveals individuals' roles in knowledge sharing.
- E-mail text mining approach discovers individuals' coordination behaviors.
- Longitudinal SEM examines the causal relationship statistically.
- The empirical results support the sociology perspective of knowledge sharing in this context.

With increasingly advanced construction technology and complex project demand, the construction industry is becoming more and more knowledge-intensive. Effectively coordinating the collective efforts of organization members and sharing knowledge among them are two pivotal and interrelated enablers of organization competitiveness. This study aims to investigate the relationship between individuals' coordination and knowledge sharing behaviors in construction project-based organizations (PBOs). Social network analysis (SNA) with Enron e-mail dataset identified the knowledge sharing network in the Enron Corporation. The e-mail texts were mined to reveal the members' coordination behaviors. Longitudinal structural equation model (SEM) was utilized to analyze the reciprocal relationship between coordination and knowledge sharing. The results suggest that coordination behaviors enable knowledge sharing, while knowledge sharing in turn does not significantly contribute to coordination. Theoretically, it supports the sociology perspective of knowledge sharing in the current empirical analysis. Future studies can replicate the analysis procedure and test the generalizability of the findings in other organization settings. In practice, managers can adopt the proposed approach to identify members' roles in knowledge sharing and coordination, and align their roles with abilities to achieve effective knowledge sharing and coordination.