Contemporary IT project teams must use collaboration technology for creative problem-solving. This study aims to understand what collaboration technology features can be used to promote IT project team creativity, and the underlying mechanisms. We address this question by introducing a team process termed as creative synthesis based on the literature and formalize it as a second-order construct. Furthermore, we systematically identify a set of collaboration technology features guided by this creative synthesis lens and examine the extent to which use of these features affect IT project team creativity through the mediation of creative synthesis. Our research model is empirically tested by a multi-sourced survey on both leaders and members of 62 IT project teams (collectively over 500 distinct members) in a large IT service delivery firm.

Yulin Fang is a Professor of Innovation and Information Management at HKU Business School, The University of Hong Kong. His current research interests include digital innovation, digital transformation, and digital platform ecosystems, and digital commerce. He has published 60 research articles in renowned management and information systems journals, including MIS Quarterly (MISQ), Information Systems Research (ISR), and Journal of Management Information Systems (JMIS), among others. He serves as a Senior Editor for Information Systems Research and Information Systems Journal, as well as the Co-Editor-in-Chief for Information Technology & People.