Abstract
Drawing on Dragoni’s cross-level model of state goal orientation, this research aims to examine the cross-level mediating effect of team goal orientation on the relationships between interteam cooperation and competition and three forms of boundary activities. Study 1 tested the proposed mediating relationships by collecting survey data from 249 members of 45 South Korean work teams. Additionally, we conducted a two-wave longitudinal study (Study 2) on 188 undergraduate students to replicate the relationships between three types of team goal orientation and their relevant forms of boundary activities. In Study 1, we found positive associations between interteam cooperation and team learning goal orientation, and between interteam competition and team performance-prove and performance-avoid goal orientations. Team learning and performance-prove goal orientations were positively related to boundary spanning and reinforcement. As predicted, team learning goal orientation had a stronger relationship with boundary spanning than team performance-prove goal orientation, whereas team performance-prove goal orientation had a stronger relationship with boundary reinforcement than team learning goal orientation. While team learning goal orientation mediated the relationship between interteam cooperation and boundary spanning and reinforcement, team performance-prove goal orientation mediated the relationship between interteam competition and boundary spanning and reinforcement. The results of Study 2 demonstrated the positive lagged effects of team performance-prove goal orientation on boundary reinforcement and of team performance-avoid goal orientation on boundary buffering.
Highlights
The increasing decentralization of organizational structures and the broad spread of network organizations, virtual teams, and cross-functional teams are blurring work team boundaries and causing the ability to effectively coordinate with external parties to be a key determinant of team performance and innovation [1,2,3,4,5]
We propose a stronger link between team performance-prove goal orientation and boundary reinforcement than between team learning goal orientation and boundary reinforcement
In support of Hypothesis 4d, we found a stronger relationship between team performance-prove goal orientation and boundary reinforcement (γ = 0.61, p < 0.01) than between team learning goal orientation and boundary reinforcement (γ = 0.56, p < 0.05)
Summary
The increasing decentralization of organizational structures and the broad spread of network organizations, virtual teams, and cross-functional teams are blurring work team boundaries and causing the ability to effectively coordinate with external parties to be a key determinant of team performance and innovation [1,2,3,4,5]. This trend triggered much research on boundary activities, which refer to activities that establish and maintain team boundaries and manage interactions across those boundaries [3]. This is a critical omission in light of the mounting evidence for between-individual variance in boundary activities
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