This study was aimed at examining the moderating effects of team leader-member exchange and the positive error management climate on the relationships between team innovation behaviors, team cohesiveness, team transactive memory systems, and team know...
This study was aimed at examining the moderating effects of team leader-member exchange and the positive error management climate on the relationships between team innovation behaviors, team cohesiveness, team transactive memory systems, and team knowledge sharing behaviors at large companies. The objectives to meet the research goal were set as follows: a) to examine the effects of team cohesiveness, team transactive memory systems, and team knowledge sharing behaviors on team innovation behaviors at large companies; b) to examine the mediating effects of team transactive memory systems and team knowledge sharing behaviors on the relationships between team cohesiveness and team innovation behaviors at large companies; c) to examine the moderating effects of team leader-member exchange on the relationships between team cohesiveness, team transactive memory systems, and team knowledge sharing behaviors and the moderating effects of the positive error management climate on the relationships between team knowledge sharing and team innovation behaviors at large companies.
The population of the study was functional teams at large companies. Nonetheless, it was difficult to estimate the exact number of the teams, as each company organizes and dissolves a team based on its intention and characteristics. Thus this study set the target population as the functional teams at the top 100 companies on the top 1,000 company list by sales in the MaeKyung’s Yearbook for Companies, excluding SOEs. The survey data was collected between May 7 and 24, 2019, and was distributed to a total of 135 teams at 14 companies out of the top 100 companies. In all, 368 members of 123 teams responded to the survey. After the collected data was analyzed to check whether it can be converted into the team level data, the data of 287 members of 77 teams was used. The data was analyzed using technical statistics, regression analysis, and mediation and moderation analyses by Hayes’ Process Macro.
The study resulted as follows. First, team cohesiveness did not affect team innovation behaviors significantly (β=.076, p=.534), while team transactive memory systems (β=.302, p<.05) and team knowledge sharing behaviors (β=.462, p<.001) had positive and significant effects on team innovation behaviors, respectively. Second, team transactive memory systems did not significantly mediate the relationships between team cohesiveness and team innovation behaviors (B=.210, p>.05). Team cohesiveness indirectly affected team innovation behaviors by completely mediating team knowledge sharing behaviors (B=.431, p<.05), while team knowledge sharing behaviors had an indirect impact on team innovation behaviors via team transactive memory systems and team knowledge sharing behaviors (B=.243 p<.05). Third, team leader-member exchange perceived by team members at large companies moderated the paths between team cohesiveness and team knowledge sharing behaviors (B=.217, p<.05), and between team transactive memory systems and team knowledge sharing behaviors (B=.278, p<.05). The positive error management climate did not have moderating effects on the paths between team knowledge sharing behaviors and team innovation behaviors (B=.100, p=.505).
The study reached the following conclusions. First, team transactive memory systems and team knowledge sharing behaviors directly affected team innovation behaviors, while team cohesiveness did not. Accordingly, in order to promote team innovation behaviors, it is essential to create a climate where team members can recognize each other’s expertise and adapt it to works, and share and combine their knowledge, rather than increasing their team cohesiveness.
Second, team cohesiveness did not directly affect team innovation behaviors, but indirectly affected it via team transactive memory systems and team knowledge sharing behaviors. If a team wants to facilitate its innovation behaviors, it should put efforts into now only improving team cohesiveness but creating a team transactive memory system and facilitating team knowledge sharing behaviors.
Third, team leader-member exchange strengthened the relationships between team cohesiveness and team knowledge sharing behaviors, and between team transactive memory systems and team knowledge sharing behaviors. This means that good relationships between a team leader and members can strengthen the effects of team cohesiveness on team knowledge sharing behaviors. A team with a transactive memory system can prompt team knowledge sharing behaviors more efficiently, which means that team leader-member exchange strengthens the relationships between team transactive memory systems and team knowledge sharing behaviors. The team knowledge sharing behaviors with material effects on team innovation behaviors is affected by team cohesiveness and team transactive memory systems and maybe strengthened by leader-member relationships, which must be given in the process of designing a team or the implementation of a team. Meanwhile, the positive error management climate did not moderate the relationships between team knowledge sharing behaviors and team innovation behaviors.
The following recommendations were drawn from the conclusions hereof. First, training programs to improve the expertise of team members should be provided. Second, the programs to keep the positive relationships between a team leader and members need to be offered to intensify the relationships between team transactive memory systems and team knowledge sharing. Third, the knowledge sharing culture within an organization should be promoted. Fourth, it is needed to cross-validate the relationships between team cohesiveness, team transactive memory systems, team knowledge sharing behaviors, team innovation behaviors, team leader-member exchange, and the positive error management climate, by conducting research on various subjects. Fifth, relevant research needs to be carried out based on the practical performance of the team’s innovation, rather than on perception.