Abstract
Software development requires intensive use of knowledge management (KM). Which brings the ease for Global Software Development (GSD). The GSD approach has viable advantages such as outsourcing, cost lowering, and 24/7 availability to the customers. However, the challenges are also there, due to the different levels of dispersion (language, cultural, geographic, etc.) which brings the difficulties in team coordination, trust between developer and communication. The literature on GSD considers knowledge sharing, trust, collaboration and shared understanding of requirements as key determinants of GSD success. A quantitative research model is adopted with a quantitative questionnaire, containing multiple weighted questions related to the relationship among the key determinants of GSD. A leading multinational firm having more than 200 branches in 30 countries was selected as a research site for the survey, the sample size of 195 was taken for this research. This research proposes a conceptual research model, which presents the relationship between four constructs, which have been considered as key determinants of GSD success. According to our findings, knowledge sharing in GSD environment improve trust among GSD team members. Knowledge sharing also increase collaboration among team members. This increased collaboration and trust positively affect the shared understanding of requirements that is key to the success of requirement engineering phase and overall software project. The achieved results will help the researcher to explore a better relationship between GSD, KM, trust, and collaboration.