Purpose – This research seeks to investigate the relationship between knowledge diversity (KD) in software teams and project performance. Previous research has shown that member diversity affects team performance; most of that work, however, has focused on diversity in personal or social attributes, such as gender or social category. Current research targets at the knowledge level aim to facilitate the implementation of knowledge management in organizations. Design/methodology/approach – A research framework was developed based on conflict theory and empirically tested on software teams in Taiwan. Findings – It was found that KD increases task conflict, which in turn has significant positive effects on team performance and that value diversity (VD) increases relationship conflict, which in turn negatively affects team performance. Research limitations/implications – The findings indicate that task conflict can enhance team performance, while relationship conflict can re...