Team Mental Models of Expertise Location

Abstract

This research provides and validates a field survey measure of team mental models (TMMs) on the location of team member expertise. The measure integrates two important aspects into the expertise location TMM Index: (a) the quality of meta-knowledge about experts within the team, and (b) team consensus regarding within-team expertise. Complementary to content-specific TMM approaches, this measure can be applied across different team and task types as a screening indicator in organizational surveys. To validate the TMM Index, an experimental study ( n = 120, 40 teams) and a longitudinal field study ( n = 130, 37 teams) were conducted. Both studies provide evidence that the TMM Index is a reliable screening indicator that corresponds to content-specific accuracy and consensus scores. Multilevel analyses revealed that the TMM Index predicts team performance (self- and other ratings), team coordination, and individual variables such as knowledge credibility and self-efficacy over time.