A conceptual framework and meta-analysis of the relationship of team tenure with team performance

Abstract

While team tenure is a key component of models of group development and effectiveness, the nature of the relationship between tenure and team outcomes is unclear due to inconsistencies in empirical findings, theoretical conceptualizations of how to define and operationalize tenure, and contextual factors that influence the effect of tenure on performance. The primary purpose of our study is to put forth a framework of team tenure that clarifies the relationship between the various conceptualizations of tenure and team performance and to meta-analyze the relationship between team tenure and team performance. Overall, our results show that team tenure, measured as additive, collective, and dispersion, is positively related to team performance, but not to team innovation. For team tenure, relative weights analysis found additive team tenure to be a relatively more important predictor than collective or dispersion. Physical, rather than intellectual, work was found to strengthen the relationship between performance and additive and collective tenure. Tenure was more important for additive and collective performance for when tenure was measured for team member’s jobs. The relationship between additive team tenure and team performance was stronger for teams with low skill differentiation. We discuss the implications of these findings for theory and research.