Knowledge-sharing behavior seems to be important for team functioning and performance. A theoretical model explaining antecedents that impact knowledge- sharing behavior and its interplay with shared knowl- edge within teams was investigated. In the present study, we examined the effect of the individual’s intention and five organizational antecedents (team communication, perceived appraisal, organizational communication, organizational support, and social ties) on knowledge- sharing behavior. Five production and five maintenance teams (123 participants altogether) working in a steel mill took part in the study to investigate the assumed relationships. The results indicate that knowledge- sharing behavior is positively affected by intention, organizational communication, and social ties. in turn, knowledge-sharing behavior had a significant impact on the shared knowledge corresponding to the four types of shared mental models (task, equipment, interaction, team), and as a trend, teams with a higher knowledge- sharing behavior seem to have greater shared mental model similarity. The implications of the findings are discussed in terms of further research in production settings and with regard to developing a knowledge- sharing intervention. Keywords: knowledge-sharing behavior, shared mental models, shared knowledge, similarity, production and maintenance teams, steel industry INTRODUCTION Production teams nowadays form the back- bone of modern production systems in most of the heavy industries, like mining, iron, and steel production. Work teams play a critical role in handling the challenges of their complex envi- ronments, which might go beyond the capaci- ties of individuals (Cooke, Gorman, Myers, & Duran, 2013; Cooke, Salas, Cannon-Bowers, & Stout, 2000). Production teams are respon- sible for stable processing times, a continuous plant performance, and high product quality by steering plants with huge dimensions. They monitor the production process by interpreting the numerous interacting system states; they react to changes in the raw material and to the quality of the final material and have to develop an awareness concerning potentially upcoming malfunctions and disruptions of the plant units. Complementary to the work of the production teams, the maintenance teams have to provide a high degree of plant availability while executing regular maintenance procedures (e.g., leakage tests of pipelines, measurement of fluxes, weld- ing works) and need to provide rapid assistance in cases of detected malfunctions. The teams of heavy industries addressed in the present study work within extreme environ- ments. Manzey, Lorenz, and Poljakov (1998) defined an extreme environment as “any envi- ronment to which humans are not naturally suited, and which demands complex processes of physiological and psychological adaptation” (p. 538). Teams in steel mills work on huge cast- ing plants that produce several million tons per year. The working material is liquid steel with a temperature of about 1500°C. The workers are directly involved in the production process, and 540656EDM XX X 10.1177/1555343414540656Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making<sc>Predictors of Knowledge-Sharing Behavior</sc> 2014 Address correspondence to Annette Kluge, Department of Computer and Cognitive Sciences, Institute of Business and Organizational Psychology, Faculty of Engineering | University of Duisburg-Essen, Lotharstraße 65, 47057 Duisburg, Germany, annette.kluge@uni-due.de. Predictors of Knowledge-Sharing Behavior for Teams in Extreme Environments: An Example From the Steel Industry Nina Gross, Hüttenwerke Krupp Mannesmann, Duisburg, Germany, and Annette Kluge, University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making 2014, Volume 8, Number 4, December 2014, pp. 352–373 DOI: 10.1177/1555343414540656 Copyright © 2014, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. by guest on April 24, 2016 edm.sagepub.com Downloaded from