Influence of Team Information Sharing on Collaborative Value Within Ashoka Fellows' Organizations in Africa

Abstract

Purpose: The study sought to determine the influence of team information sharing on collaborative value within Ashoka Fellows' Organizations in Africa
 Methodology: The study applied pragmatism philosophy to offer several ways to bridge dichotomies in mixed methods approaches to social science. Explanatory sequential mixed-method research design consisting of two distinct phases, namely quantitative and qualitative, was adopted. Both qualitative and quantitative study methods were adopted. In the quantitative study, the target population constituted all the 154 Ashoka Fellows' Organizations working in 19 countries in Africa. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire administered online to the founders (Ashoka Fellows) or the Ashoka Fellows' Organizations' CEOs. One hundred responded by filling out the questionnaire, which translated to a 64.9% response rate. Additionally, qualitative data applied purposive sampling and selected six Ashoka regional team leaders in Africa for in-depth interviews. They all were available for the interviews translating to a 100% response rate. Data analysis techniques combined descriptive and inferential statistics. Statistical Package for Social Sciences and SmartPLS 3 software were used to analyze the collected data.
 Findings: Results revealed that the results confirm that team information sharing significantly influences collaborative value within Ashoka Fellows’ Organizations in Africa. Team Information Sharing has a significant influence on collaborative value witn an R2 = 0.300, chi-square X2 (10, N=100) = 63.010, p<.05, SRMR=0.088, Rms-theta=0.224 and NFI=0.805. The null hypothesis was rejected.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study recommends that Team members should ensure the team's information exchange is of good quality as the quality of information sharing that develops collaboration must go beyond necessary factual information to a point where team members can transfer their unique understanding. Also, team members should be willing to share information and engage in sequences of interpretation sharing to build on each other's interpretations and collectively make sense. Teams should embrace timely information sharing, which is critical for collaborative value and the use of technology. To ensure quality and timeliness of information shared, teams should consider both investments in information systems as sharing appropriate information allows the linkage of internal and external knowledge sources by facilitating information flow and providing effective data retrieval mechanisms