Competition within Cross-Functional Teams: A Structural Equation Model on Knowledge Hiding

Anh Don Ton,Gábor Szabó-Szentgróti,Laszlo Hammerl

doi:10.3390/socsci11010030

Abstract

The modern challenges of business success make the use of interdisciplinary cross-functional teamwork necessary to tackle social and economic issues alike. The study examines the role of knowledge hiding in within-team coopetition, taking into account its subsequent factors influencing team efficiency. For the investigation, a self-made model was applied that associates the personality of individuals, their role inside the organization and work-environmental aspects with the individual’s behavior as the antecedent of within-team competition. The objective of this study revolves around the question of which factors apply to the efficiency of cross-functional teams. The modern concept of interdisciplinary coopetition faces more difficulties than traditional teams regarding voluntary adoption in new environments. The model was empirically applied to a dataset of 129 participants working in cross-functional teams. Three hypotheses were drafted and statistically evaluated. The factor of knowledge hiding was evaluated as one of the crucial factors blocking the efficiency of team-based work, based on the results from the literature review. This was further fueled by antagonistic behavior and a competitive supervisor. The empirical findings further elaborate that individuals with a competitive supervisor tend to be more antagonistic and competitive themselves. Equally, a highly developed personality trait of antagonism correlates positively with knowledge hiding, thereby resulting in the limiting of team performance. Surprisingly, competitiveness among individuals is negatively correlated with knowledge hiding, indicating that different personality traits and different real-life situations react drastically differently towards competitive environments. The results close the research gap of a strategic necessity for supervisors and managers designing business organizations alike, namely, that an individually adapted and situationally aware leadership is indispensable for a successful cross-functional team approach, even more than in traditional team compositions. As for now, only the effects on personality in educational environments were discussed in previous research.

Highlights

With the increase in interdisciplinary work in industry, the challenges for the successful collaboration of cross-functional teams are growing
This paper examines the circumstances and origins of the individual team member under coopetitive tensions that lead to knowledge hiding within cross-functional teams
Antagonism was significantly correlated with individual competitiveness, knowledge hiding and competitive supervision (r = 0.34, p < 0.01, r = 0.64, p < 0.01, r = 0.39, p < 0.01)

Summary

Introduction

With the increase in interdisciplinary work in industry, the challenges for the successful collaboration of cross-functional teams are growing. Initial studies investigated the effects of coopetition within teams, with its biggest impact on knowledge management and its subtopics including, but not limited to knowledge sharing (Tsai 2002), quality of knowledge and skills (Ghobadi and D’Ambra 2012a, 2012b) and social cohesion (An et al 2020; Knein et al 2020; Strese et al 2016) These factors in particular lead to short-, mid- and long-term success in cross-functional teams and are key influencers on performance among whole organizations (Ton and Hammerl 2021)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion