Knowledge-oriented leadership, team learning and team creativity: the roles of task interdependence and task complexity

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chenghao Men ◽  
Ruiqian Jia

PurposeOrganizations is increasingly depending on team creativity to create a sustainable competitive advantage. The purpose of this study is to examine the relation between knowledge-oriented leadership and team creativity.Design/methodology/approachThe hypotheses were tested with a sample of 89 knowledge worker teams consisting of 412 employees and employers in China.FindingsResults show that knowledge-oriented leadership is positively associated with team creativity, mediated by team learning. Additionally, task interdependence and task complexity can strengthen the positive relation between team learning and team creativity.Originality/valueThe study is the first to explore the relation between knowledge-oriented leadership and team creativity and the moderating role of task interdependence and task complexity in the relation between team learning and team creativity.

2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 329-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick S.W. Fong ◽  
Chenghao Men ◽  
Jinlian Luo ◽  
Ruiqian Jia

Purpose Creativity and innovation are crucial in improving the organizational performance and sustaining competitive advantage. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between knowledge hiding and team creativity. Design/methodology/approach The authors tested the hypotheses with a sample of 87 knowledge worker teams involving 393 employees and employers in China. Findings Knowledge hiding is negatively related to team creativity, fully mediated by absorptive capacity. In addition, the negative relationship between knowledge hiding and absorptive capacity would be weakened by task interdependence. Practical implications Team managers should take measures to avoid the development of knowledge hiding, which is indirectly related to team creativity via absorptive capacity within a team, and motivate team members to share more knowledge by training to improve their feelings of accountability, responsibility, and duty. In addition, managers can decrease knowledge hiding by strengthening within-team task interdependence. Originality/value This study is one of the first to investigate the relationship between knowledge hiding and team creativity and the moderating role of task interdependence in the relationship between knowledge hiding and absorptive capacity.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chenghao Men ◽  
Lei Yue ◽  
Huo Weiwei ◽  
Bing Liu ◽  
Guangwei Li

PurposeDrawing on theories of social information processing and social identity, the authors explore how abusive supervision climate affects team creativity in a Chinese cultural context. The authors propose that this relation will be mediated by collective efficacy and group identification and moderated by task interdependenceDesign/methodology/approachThe study conducted a confirmatory factor analysis and hierarchical regression to analyze the paired data from 67 research and development (R&D) teams involving 378 employees and employers in a Chinese cultural context.FindingsResults demonstrate that abusive supervision climate was negatively related to team creativity, fully mediated by collective efficacy and group identification in a Chinese cultural context. In addition, task interdependence strengthened the positive relation between collective efficacy and team creativity, as well the positive relation between group identification and team creativity.Originality/valueAlthough research has explored how abusive supervision climate influences individual creativity, few studies have investigated the relation between abusive supervision climate and team creativity in a Chinese cultural context. This study is one of the first to explore how abusive supervision climate affects team creativity in a Chinese cultural context and examine the moderating role of task interdependence in the relation between abusive supervision climate and team creativity.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mengyi Zhu ◽  
Yuan Sun ◽  
Anand Jeyaraj ◽  
Jie Hao

PurposeThis study aims to explore whether and how task characteristics affect employee agility in the context of enterprise social media (ESM).Design/methodology/approachAdopting the social network ties perspective, this study examines how task characteristics (i.e. task complexity, task interdependence and task non-routineness) affect employee agility by promoting their social network ties (i.e. instrumental ties and expressive ties) and how ESM visibility moderates their relationships. Data gathered from 341 ESM users in workplaces were analyzed using Smart-PLS 3.2.FindingsFirst, task complexity, task interdependence and task non-routineness have positive effects on instrumental and expressive ties, which in turn influences agility; Second, instrumental ties have a stronger effect on employee agility relative to expressive ties; Finally, ESM visibility positively moderates the effects of task complexity and task non-routineness on social network ties.Practical implicationsThe findings provide guidance for organizational managers on how to use task characteristics and ESM to improve employee agility, as well as insights for social media designers to optimize ESM functions to improve agility.Originality/valueThis study provides empirical evidence to explain the roles of task characteristics and social network ties in influencing employee agility, thus clarifying the inconsistent findings in extant research. The moderating effects of ESM visibility on the relationships between task characteristics and social network ties are also examined, thus providing further insights on the positive role of ESM in organizations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 389-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruchi Sinha ◽  
Christina Stothard

Purpose This paper aims to understand the effects of team power asymmetry (hierarchy) on team learning. Design/methodology/approach Literature suggests that power asymmetry can hurt team learning due to unequal interactions. The authors integrate the situated focus theory of power and the theory of adversarial growth to propose that environmental hardship can moderate this relationship. Such that, under environmental hardship there is a shift in power relations within hierarchical teams, such that power asymmetry positively relates to team learning via increased team egalitarianism (interactional equality). Findings The study is presented in two parts. Part 1 reviews the literature and builds the theoretical arguments for the conceptual model, while Part 2 empirically examines the model on a sample of military teams. In Part 1, the authors propose a theoretically derived model and directions for future research in team power, dynamics and learning. Research limitations/implications It provides directions to empirically validate a contingency-based model to resolve the dilemma of creating equality and high levels of team learning in hierarchical teams. Originality/value The conceptual model and hypotheses contribute to the team learning literature by theoretically clarifying the conditions under which power asymmetry is likely to improve team learning.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yinxuan Zhang ◽  
Tong Li ◽  
Xuan Yu ◽  
Yanzhao Tang

Purpose This study aims to examine the influence of task interdependence on team members’ Moqi in virtual teams in China. The authors also aim to identify virtual collaboration as a mediator and distributive justice climate as a moderator in this relationship. Design/methodology/approach The data were collected from a sample of 87 virtual teams (including 349 individuals) from various Chinese companies through a three-wave survey. Hierarchical regression analysis, path analysis, bootstrapping method and multiple validity tests were used to examine the research model. Findings In virtual teams in China, task interdependence has a significantly positive influence on team members’ Moqi; Virtual collaboration mediates the relationship between task interdependence and team members’ Moqi; The distributive justice climate positively moderates the relationship between task interdependence and virtual collaboration, as well as the indirect effect of virtual collaboration on the relationship between task interdependence and team members’ Moqi. Practical implications In virtual teams, leaders can facilitate team members’ Moqi by designing highly interdependent tasks, encouraging team members to engage in virtual collaboration and cultivating a climate of high attention distributive justice. Originality/value This is one of the first studies to pay to the Moqi among team members rather than supervisor-subordinate relationships and further examine how team members’ Moqi is predicted by task interdependence via the mediation of virtual collaboration with the distributive justice climate playing a moderating role.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhen Zhang ◽  
Min Min

PurposeAlthough scholars have provided sufficient empirical evidence on the effectiveness of organizational rewards in managing knowledge sharing, little attention has been paid to the relationship between organizational rewards and knowledge hiding. Drawing on self-determination theory (SDT), this study aims to investigate the effects of financial and nonfinancial rewards on employees' knowledge-hiding behavior as well as the moderating role of task attributes.Design/methodology/approachThis paper examines the hypotheses by conducting a time-lagged survey from a sample of 186 knowledge workers in Chinese high-tech firms.FindingsThe findings of this study reveal that financial rewards are positively associated with knowledge hiding, whereas nonfinancial rewards have a negative effect on knowledge. Moreover, task interdependence significantly moderates the effects of organizational rewards on employees' knowledge-hiding behavior. In addition, the interaction between nonfinancial rewards and task complexity is negatively related to knowledge hiding.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first to investigate the effects of financial rewards and nonfinancial rewards on employees' knowledge-hiding behavior, as well as the moderating roles of task interdependence and task complexity.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Subash Chandra Pattnaik ◽  
Rashmita Sahoo

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the mediating effect of creativity in the relationship between employee engagement and task performance and the moderating role of perceived workplace autonomy in the relationship between employee engagement and creativity through a moderated mediation analysis.Design/methodology/approachThe study used a quantitative research method. The sample for the study consisted of 396 employees and their clients in an Indian software development organization. Statistical analysis of the data was conducted using confirmatory factor analysis, Sobel test and Hayes' PROCESS for Model 1.FindingsFindings of the study indicated that creativity of employees partially mediate the relationship between employee engagement and their task performance and perceived workplace autonomy moderates the relationship between employee engagement and creativity.Practical implicationsManagers may use findings of the study to harness creativity of their employees by providing an autonomous workplace environment to improve their task performance so as to contribute to the bottom line of the organization.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the literature by examining the mediating effect of creativity in the relationship between employee engagement and task performance, especially in a non-Western context and the moderating role played by perceived workplace autonomy using componential and broaden-and-build theories.


2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 1111-1122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weixiao Guo ◽  
Chenjing Gan ◽  
Duanxu Wang

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate how the mobility of team members affects team creativity in knowledge-worker teams and the mediating role of team transactive memory system (TMS) and team creative efficacy.Design/methodology/approachMultiple surveys were conducted on team leaders and members in knowledge-worker teams in China. A total of 94 teams were analyzed by adopting the confirmatory factor analyses, hierarchical regression analysis and bootstrap analysis method.FindingsThe results show that frequent team member mobility is negatively related to a knowledge-worker team's creativity, and the relationship is mediated by team TMS and creative efficacy.Originality/valueThis study contributes to a deeper understanding of how the mobility of team members affects team creativity in knowledge-worker teams by exploring the underlying mechanisms from the perspective of team cognition. Specifically, team TMS and creative efficacy mediate the relationship between team member mobility and team creativity.


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 158-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xingwen Chen ◽  
Jun Liu ◽  
Yiwei Yuan ◽  
Xun Cui

Purpose Previous research has yielded inconsistent findings of the effects that task conflict has on creative outcomes, with some research finding a negative relationship but others holding a positive or even no significant relationship. Drawing on the too-much-of-a-good-thing effect approach, this paper aims to investigate the curvilinear relations between task conflict and creative idea generation as well as the mediating role of task reflexivity and the moderating role of task complexity. Design/methodology/approach Two studies were carried out to test the proposed relationship. In Study 1, multisource and lagged data collected from 533 employees and 140 corresponding supervisors were used to test the curvilinear relationship between task conflict and creative idea generation as well as the moderating effect of task complexity. In Study 2, the authors extended the findings by exploring the mediating effect of task reflexivity using a matched sample of 350 employees and 99 corresponding supervisors. Findings Task conflict had an inverted U-shaped relationship with creative idea generation, and task reflexivity partially mediated this relationship. Besides, this association was moderated by task complexity such that the curvilinear relationship was more pronounced for tasks with lower complexity. Research limitations/implications This study was more or less contaminated by common method variance because some variables were derived from the same sources. Also, task conflict might be necessitated to differentiate and more situational variables should be considered to draw a complete picture. Practical implications Managers should undertake conflict management according to the levels of task conflict and task complexity. At a lower degree of task conflict, managers might motivate employees to think more about task-related issues; at higher levels of task conflict, managers should act as conflict mediators to reduce the underlying negative effects, especially for simple tasks. Originality/value These findings could help us understand the boundary conditions under, and the underlying mechanisms by, which task conflict has an impact on creative idea generation.


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