Team cohesion: the impact of team design and technical factors

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of team boundedness, and formal coordination on task and social cohesion and the moderating effect of organization tenure diversity. Design/methodology/approach Data was gathered from the responses of 398 team members and leaders working in 111 software development teams to a questionnaire survey. The hypotheses were all tested using structural equation modelling. Findings The results show team boundedness and formal coordination have positive and significant associations with task and social cohesion. Formal coordination is a stronger positive predictor for task than social cohesion. Organization tenure has a greater negative effect on social cohesion than task cohesion and moderates the relationship between formal coordination and task cohesion. Practical implications Therefore, for organizations to optimize team cohesion the impact of antecedent variables on social and task cohesion should be taken into considering in planning strategies for improvement. Originality/value This paper has an original approach by adding to the literature through an examination of the antecedent variables of task and social cohesion which are two key components of team cohesion.