Relationships of Role Differentiation, Cohesion, Team Member Satisfaction and Perceived Group Performance: The Moderating Effects of Barrack’s Structure and Squad Leader's Initiating Structure

Abstract

The purpose of the present research was to investigate the structural relationships of role differentiation, cohesion, team member satisfaction, and perceived group performance and to examine the moderating effects of barrack’s structure and squad leader’s initiating structure in these relationships. A total of 924 ROK Army soldiers participated in this research and data were collected through survey. Results of the structural equation modeling analysis showed that role differentiation was positively related to cohesion, team member satisfaction, and perceived group performance, respectively. Also, cohesion mediated the relationships between role differentiation and team member satisfaction as well as between role differentiation and perceived group performance. The moderating effect of barrack’s structure in the relationship between role differentiation and team member satisfaction was significant, suggesting that team member satisfaction was higher in the hierarchical barrack than in the horizontal barrack when soldiers perceived that the role differentiation was high. The moderating effect of squad leader’s initiating structure in the relationship between role differentiation and perceived group performance was also significant, suggesting that the relationship between role differentiation and perceived group performance was stronger when squad leader’s initiating structure was high than low. Lastly, the results, implications, and limitations of this research were discussed.