Support Technologies in Knowledge Work: Project Team Compositions and 3D Development Pack Use in Gaming

Abstract

With the rise of artificial intelligence, private and professional users in knowledge industries can opt for unprecedented magnitudes of technology support. At the frontend, this is providing new types of users with service access. Our study looks into the implications that this has at the backend of value creation, i.e., in knowledge work. Our context is the video game industry, where projects can opt for the support of 3D development packs in making games. Transfering insights from the greater digitization literature, we consider that more experienced teams may be less prone to use them than inexperienced ones. Based on a 13-year U.S. data set covering 4,248 projects, we find that those having programmers with lower tenure, yet higher past project activity are more likely to use such technology support. Our results suggest that in contexts like gaming, support technologies may be used not only for their knowledge-complementing, but time-saving qualities.