The exchange of information is often a key ingredient of high performance in collaborations within and between organizations. Research has shown that modular organization design can shape the extent and complexity of information exchange, thus facilitating self-organizing coordinated processes. However, the (top-down) design of organizational modularity may not always cohere with the (bottom-up) information-sharing behavior by employees, thereby undermining effective collaboration. Specifically, employees may withhold information if they fear that their partners might misuse the shared information for their own benefit. Using a formal model, we analyze how two cognitive mechanisms—relational contracts and virtual bargaining—may help overcome this problem and enable employees to exchange information in a self-organizing way. We explain and predict how different parameters of organizational design influence the extent of information exchange under these cognitive mechanisms. We propose that managers who succeed in aligning the modular organization design with the employees’ information-sharing behavior will achieve more effective self-organized collaboration and higher performance.