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This study advances research on cognitive diversity from the perspective of public employees by studying the effect of cognitive diversity on team viability, the mediating effect of transactive memory systems (TMS) and the moderating effect of technology integration.

We used SmartPLS to analyze a unique data set from 193 public employees. The information was collected through an online questionnaire administered by the LimeSurvey Professional platform. In addition to analyzing the data through partial least squares structural equation modeling with higher-order latent variables, we analyzed mediating and moderating effects.

The results show that TMS act as partial mediators between cognitive diversity and team viability. Although technology integration (for both external diffusion and internal integration) moderates this relationship to mitigate negative effects, technological infrastructure does not.

This study expands previous research on TMS and technology integration. Our findings support the significance of TMS and technology integration in a context of cognitive diversity, identify ways to develop good management behavior and assess the results of these practices for team viability. We recommend that public managers in contexts of cognitive diversity work to create effective workplace environments. Training programs can foster TMS capabilities and support implementation of technology integration to improve team viability and results for public service delivery to citizens.

The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between network ties (NT) and transactive memory systems (TMS), observed through three dimensions – specialization (TMSS), credibility (TMSCR), and coordination (TMSCO) – in the presence of leadership (LDR) as a moderating variable, in university research-and-development (R&D) groups.

The data are composed of 257 university R&D groups. To confirm the hypotheses, the authors use multiple linear regression analysis with a moderating effect.

The conclusions show that the relationships between NT and two of the three dimensions of TMS (TMSCR and TMSCO) are significant when LDR is included as a moderating variable. Although the effect of TMSS is positive, it is not significant. Including the interaction element enables better explanation of two of the dimensions of TMS in the sector analyzed. Thus, LDR is perfectly applicable to the university R&D environment.

This research has several limitations that suggest further possibilities for empirical research. The limitations include the cross-sectional nature of the research and the judgment of a single manager as the basis of the perception analyzed for each group.

The authors provide several implications for R&D practitioners. The results of this study could be validated in other universities in other geographic areas, enabling better generalization and applicability of the results. The results described may serve as a guide for group leaders of university R&D. This research helps us to see the importance of LDR in forming internal research networks that help researchers to perform common projects in order to obtain better results in the group. Thus, the groups provided better results to society.

No studies have tested the moderating effect of LDR in university R&D empirically. The results provide information to fill this gap and demonstrate the applicability of LDR as a key element in the organization, improvement, and cohesion of R&D groups.

Although most research considers organizational learning as an antecedent of innovation, the relationship is complex and could be reciprocal. Therefore, more research is needed on the profit gained from the learning and organization acquires from its innovation activities. Using the concept of fit, this paper aims to investigate whether organizational learning increases when an organization’s technical innovation level exceeds that of its competitors (positive misfit), theorizing the curvilinear effect of positive technical innovation misfit on organizational learning.

This paper uses regression analysis with survey data gathered from 202 European firms.

The findings support the argument that positive technical innovation misfit has an inverted-U shaped effect on organizational learning.

The findings obtained should orient firm managers to developing a work environment that enables optimal levels of technical innovation and learning – levels at which the technical innovation developed drives learning among the organization’s members but avoids becoming trapped in the organizational complexity involved in very high levels of positive technical innovation misfit.

This study resolves conflicting views of the relationship between organizational learning and technical innovation and adds to the existing literature that indicates that proactive innovative firms can fail when becoming learners.

The purpose of this paper is to study how transactive memory systems (TMS) facilitate the transfer and absorption of knowledge in the presence of quality management (QM) within a university research and development (R&D) environment.

The data come from a simple random sampling of 257 Spanish university R&D groups in nine different areas of knowledge. To verify the hypotheses, the authors used multiple linear regression analysis with a moderating effect.

The conclusions show that the relationship between knowledge transfer (KT) and TMS is significant when QM practices are included as a moderating variable but that this is not the case for knowledge absorption (KA), which does not show any effect.

The effects described were found in a sample composed of various R&D sectors taken from a single country and not distributed equally. Further, the perception analyzed represents the judgment of a single manager.

It is interesting to study this interaction in university R&D because of the important role R&D plays in the development of regions. Improving the internal processes of this research helps to make its results more competitive. This study contributes information on non‐business management and introduces university R&D to the use of QM practices.

The authors found no studies that test empirically the moderating effect of QM practices on the relationships studied in university R&D. The paper's results contribute information to help fill this gap and demonstrate once again that QM practices can be applied to any environment.