Teams In Taiwan Research Articles

Transforming knowledge-sharing intentions into behaviour: the role of ambidextrous knowledge-sharing activities on mobile platforms

ABSTRACT Drawing on the perspectives of technology affordance and organizational learning, this study examines the relationship between individual-level mobile knowledge-sharing intentions and behavior, as well as the moderating effects of exploratory and exploitative knowledge-sharing activities within teams in the public sector. Data were gathered through a questionnaire survey distributed to 377 public employees in 31 mobile knowledge-sharing teams in Taiwan. The results show that mobile knowledge-sharing intentions positively predict behaviour at the individual level. Additionally, exploratory knowledge-sharing activities at the team level amplify the positive impact of mobile knowledge-sharing intentions on behaviour at the individual level. The study reveals that Information Technology (IT) exerts a more substantial influence on exploratory activities than on exploitative activities, particularly among civil servants who have confidence in new technology.

The structure, function, task, and effectiveness of hospital-based child protection teams in Taiwan

BackgroundChild protection teams (CPTs) are established in many countries with an intent to safeguard children at risk for maltreatment. However, the tasks and effectiveness of CPTs in Taiwan and many countries remain unclear. ObjectiveA two-step, descriptive correlational study aimed to explore the implementation status and needs concerning the structure, functions, tasks, and effectiveness of hospital-based CPTs using a self-developed evaluation tool in Taiwan. Participants and settingFive experts and 10 CPT members were evaluated the psychometric properties of the evaluation tool. The main study participants comprised 153 CPT members in Taiwan in 2020. MethodsContent validity, factor analysis, test-retest reliability, and internal consistency were used to evaluate the psychometric properties of the instrument. Descriptive and correlational statistics were to describe the implementation status and needs of the structure, functions, tasks, and effectiveness of hospital-based CPTs and their relationships. ResultsThe psychometric properties of the tool were acceptable and satisfactory. The mean scores for each dimension of CPT implementation status were 2.77–2.93 (potential range 0–4) with the lowest for collaboration (mean = 1.97) and incentive (mean = 1.93). The average need scores for each dimension ranged 7.96–8.12 (potential range 0–10), indicating high needs for each dimension, particularly in support, cohesion, and incentive. The implementation status was significantly, weakly correlated with the needs. ConclusionsThere is a need to further strengthen the structure and function of the CPTs and to improve its implementation in Taiwan. It is important to improve inter-agency collaboration and to establish an incentive mechanism for hospital CPTs. Working closely with community agencies is also needed to provide a good quality of care to the maltreated child and the family.

Exploring coaching leadership behaviors among top-division university badminton teams in Taiwan: A “Five Cardinal Relationships” (Wulun) perspective

This study examines coaching leadership behaviors among top-division university badminton teams in Taiwan. Our analytical framework is based on the concepts of Confucianism and its values regarding the behaviors proposed by Mencius that comprise the “Five Cardinal Relationships” (Wulun). As Confucianism is the basis for the Chinese order, Wulun is a unique cultural phenomenon in Chinese society that dominates role norms and duties. A total of 10 relationships based on the relationships associated with Wulun shape the relationship networks of Chinese individuals and thus the behaviors of individual Chinese people. Methodologically, 10 interviews were conducted with two coaches, two player coaching assistants and six players from two first-division university badminton teams in Taiwan. Paternal leadership is a style of leadership associated with authority, discipline, fatherly benevolence and strong morals. First, our results indicate that on Taiwanese sports teams, the leadership behavior of a coach must meet the expectations associated with Wulun relationships. If there is a threat to the image required to play this role, authoritarian leadership becomes the most commonly used style. Second, when a coach consciously demonstrates benevolent and virtuous leadership, relationships have the potential to evolve into friendships. Third, when a coach delegates power to an assistant, the assistant's leadership style becomes rather similar to that of the head coach, thereby maintaining harmony in relationships.

Investigating the pathways between swift trust and team creativity among nursing student teams in Taiwan: A moderated mediation model

BackgroundConsiderable theoretical and empirical work indicates that a multitude of factors are associated with team creativity in an organizational context. The complex relationships between the contributors, however, are not well understood in nursing education. This study was to take a process view investigating the pathways from swift trust to creativity via collaborative interactions and to explore whether task conflict would further change the strength of the indirect effect.MethodsThis study utilized a cross-sectional, quantitative, descriptive design. Taiwanese nursing students (final n = 629), who enrolled in capstone courses of small interdisciplinary groups collaborating with industrial design students on designing healthcare products, participated in the study. Data were collected from students during 2018 and 2020. Questionnaires assessed their perceptions about teams' swift trust (including cognition- and affect-based), collaborative interactions (including constructive controversy, helping behavior, and spontaneous communication), task conflict, and creativity. SPSS PROCESS macro was used to test the proposed moderated mediation model.ResultsBivariate correlation analysis showed that greater team creativity was associated with increased cognition-based team swift trust and collaborative interactions. Results revealed that collaborative interactions serving as the underlying mechanisms mediating the effect of cognition- and affect-based swift trust on team creativity. Moreover, the indirect effect of collaborative interactions, specifically, spontaneous communication, on linking swift trust to team creativity varied as a function of task conflict. As task conflict decreased, the effect became stronger.ConclusionFindings suggest that nursing student teams’ spontaneous communication serves as the underlying mechanism in linking the relationship between swift trust and team creativity and that lower task conflict plays a crucial role in enhancing the indirect effect. The proposed pathway could provide guidance for nursing educators to promote creativity outcomes by promoting swift trust and collaborative interactions as well as preventing task conflict for interdisciplinary nursing student teams.

Developing sustainable workplace through leadership: Perspectives of transformational leadership and of organizational citizenship behavior.

The objective of this study was to investigate the leadership style of the supervisor to develop the organization's sustainable workplace of and the extra-role behavior of employees (i.e., OCB). An organizational context of the immigration officer is explored by using the data collected from a survey of 453 immigration officers from 26 immigration officer teams in Taiwan. This study has verified the transformational leadership and organizational commitment that they have positive effect on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) of the immigration officers. Moreover, it showed that the organizational climate has a context effect on organizational commitment and OCB. Furthermore, the results of this study have shown that an aggregated transformational leadership has cross-level interactions on OCB. This study also found that the transformational leadership has strong effect on organizational commitment and OCB. This study adopts a cross-level study taking organizational environmental factors and cross-level interactions as research considerations. Because of the focus on group-level impact, the research methodology can apply the supervisor's leadership style and the organizational climate to measure whether the immigration officers have a high degree of organizational commitment and influence their OCB performance across levels. The organizational commitment of the immigration officers and their individual OCB performance could be improved by converging the organizational context effect of aggregated transformational leadership and organizational climate. This study found that the application of the transformational leadership is extremely helpful for an organization to develop sustainable workplace and extra-role behavior of employees.

Assessing social capital and knowledge sharing in the high-tech industry: a moderating role of hypercompetition

PurposeAlthough the literature has somewhat discussed social capital and knowledge sharing, the mediating and moderating mechanisms that influence team workers to move from connecting with one another to building social capital and consequently engaging in knowledge sharing still remain largely understudied. For that reason, this study aims to develop a holistic research framework that links social capital to knowledge sharing with positive affective tone as a mediator and hypercompetition as a moderator.Design/methodology/approachDrawing upon the social capital theory and the affective events theory (AET), this study proposes a research framework to assess how social capital factors influence knowledge sharing with the mediation of positive affective tone and the moderation of hypercompetition in high-tech teams. This study obtains survey data based on 330 questionnaires of working professionals from 66 high-tech teams in Taiwan, in which each team comprises four members and their team leader.FindingsThe empirical results of this study show that social interaction, shared vision and trust are positively related to knowledge sharing via the mediation of positive affective tone. Moreover, hypercompetition has positive moderating effects on the relationships between social interaction and positive affective tone as well as between trust and positive affective tone.Originality/valueThis study expands the previous literature to study through what mediating mechanism the effects of different social capital factors on knowledge sharing can be effectively realized and whether there exists any critical moderator that influences these effects.

Effect of interdisciplinary teaching on collaborative interactions among nursing student teams in Taiwan: A quasi-experimental study

BackgroundEmpirical research has demonstrated the academic, collaborative, and organizational benefits of Interdisciplinary Teaching. However, few studies have examined the effectiveness of Interdisciplinary Teaching in higher education, particular in healthcare education in Taiwan. In addition, there is no consensus on how the effectiveness of this form of teaching should be evaluated. ObjectiveTo evaluate the effect of Interdisciplinary Teaching on collaborative interactions for teams of nursing students. DesignA quasi-experimental study design employed pretest-posttest scores on measures of team collaboration to compare an Interdisciplinary Teaching intervention with a control group. SettingCapstone courses at two universities of science and technology in Taiwan, which focused on creating patentable healthcare-related products. ParticipantsNursing students (N = 145) enrolled in capstone courses between September 2019 and January 2020 participated in this study. The intervention group (n = 61) received creativity training from interdisciplinary faculty from departments of nursing and design. The control group (n = 84) received traditional teaching from nursing faculty. MethodsData were collected using self-report instruments for team interaction behaviors, swift trust, and conflict at the beginning and end of the 18-week course. Differences between groups were examined with analysis of covariance. ResultsCompared with controls, nursing students in teams that received the teaching intervention had significantly better mean post-test scores for team interaction behaviors and the subscale for communication (both p < .05); team swift trust and affective-based trust (p < .001); and lower scores for the team conflict subscale of relationships (p = .01). ConclusionsThese findings suggest creativity training using Interdisciplinary Teaching benefited collaborative interactions for interactive behaviors and swift trust, and decreased relationship conflict for teams of nursing students. Interdisciplinary Teaching should be integrated into nursing students' curriculum, which could enhance collaborative interactions and improve the ability of student teams to create novel, patentable healthcare products.

Challenge athletes to improve their self-worth: A serial mediation model linking dual controlling behaviors to sport performance

Coaches can shape athletes’ self-worth through controlling behaviors, such as tight control and stressful challenge. However, previous research has not paid attention to the effects of different controlling behaviors of coaches on athletes’ self-worth, which is considered an important motive for athletes to achieve high performance. Accordingly, the dual controlling model of leadership behaviors is adopted to clarify the effects of controlling behaviors. Also, sociometer theory is adopted to investigate the mechanism by which controlling behaviors influence athletes’ self-worth and their sport performance. Data were collected from 16 male college basketball teams in Taiwan, from a total of 155 participants. Results show that different controlling behaviors have opposite effects on sport performance, and these effects are mediated serially by coach–athlete relationship quality (i.e., leader–member exchange) and self-worth (i.e., team-based self-esteem). This study contributes to the literature of coaching by examining and identifying the opposite effects and the black box of dual controlling behaviors on athletes’ performance.

Moderating effects of task interdependence on interaction behaviours and creativity for nursing students on interdisciplinary teams.

AimsNursing students in Taiwan often study in interdisciplinary teams that must create healthcare products. Creativity is imperative for the students’ success, but studies have not explored the relational precursors to team creativity in nursing education. Therefore, the relationship was examined between task interdependence, interaction behaviours (constructive controversy, helping behaviours and spontaneous communication) and creativity for nursing students on interdisciplinary teams in Taiwan to investigate whether high task interdependence moderates the correlations between interaction behaviours and creativity.DesignDescriptive, cross‐sectional, quantitative study.MethodsParticipants were nursing students (N = 99) attending interdisciplinary capstone courses in 2‐ or 4‐year nursing programmes at a university for science and technology in Taiwan. Self‐report questionnaires were used to collect the students’ demographics and perceptions of their teams’ task interdependence, interaction behaviours and creativity between January 2018 and January 2019. Pearson's correlation coefficient revealed variable associations. SPSS PROCESS macro displayed moderating effects.ResultsTask interdependence had significant positive correlations with all three interaction behaviours and team creativity. Each interaction behaviour also had significant positive correlations with team creativity. High task interdependence negatively moderated the relationships between team creativity and (a) constructive controversy, and (b) spontaneous communication, but not (c) helping behaviours.ConclusionThe empirically validated moderation model and study results suggest that nursing educators can foster creativity in their students by encouraging task interdependence and helping behaviours, and teaching students to build constructive controversy and spontaneous communication into their collaborative plans.ImpactIn Taiwan, nursing students must demonstrate creativity in interdisciplinary capstone courses. Their ability to do so requires them to cooperate with students in other disciplines who have unique skills or knowledge. This study provides insights into the relational factors that may improve creativity for nursing students on interdisciplinary teams.

Initiative climate, psychological safety and knowledge sharing as predictors of team creativity: A multilevel study of research and development project teams

This paper examines from a multilevel perspective the contributions of initiative climate, psychological safety and knowledge sharing to team creativity in research and development (R&amp;D) project teams. We propose and test an organizational learning contingency model of creativity, reflecting on how initiative climate interacts with employees' psychological safety in influencing knowledge sharing and teams' creative performance, by collecting data from 352 employees comprising 88 R&amp;D teams in Taiwan at two time points and from two sources, team members and team leaders. Results indicated that knowledge sharing acts as a mediator in the relationship between initiative climate and team creativity. Results also supported the cross‐level moderation effect of initiative climate on the relationship between psychological safety and knowledge sharing behaviour. We also made the interesting but unhypothesized findings that tenure differentiation and education diversity both negatively influenced team creativity and go on to discuss both theoretical and practical implications of our research.

Assessing the facilities and healthcare services for heart failure: Taiwan versus European countries

The present study was designed to evaluate the local cardiology infrastructure and services for heart failure (HF) care in Taiwan hospitals and to compare the HF care with the hospitals in European countries. Available data from a total of 98 medical centers and regional hospitals in Taiwan were analyzed. Each facility was given a single copy of the questionnaire between September and December 2019, and service records were extracted from the National Health Insurance Database. European data were adopted from the 2017 European Society of Cardiology Atlas. The number of cardiologists per million populations in Taiwan was 57.4, and it was lower than the European median (72.8). The median percentages of interventional and electrophysiologists among cardiologists were 64% and 15% in Taiwan, which were both higher than the European median values (12% and 5%, respectively). The accessibility rates to implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) and cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) in Taiwan were both higher (3.4 and 3.0 centers per million populations) comparing to those in European countries (median 1.6 and 1.5 centers per million populations). Comparing to 67 hospitals without HF care teams in Taiwan, 31 hospitals (31.6%) with HF teams have significantly more cardiology staff, enhanced procedural capabilities with more alternatives on oral or intravenous HF relevant medications. Our analysis clearly demonstrated discrepancies in cardiology subspecialties and CRT/ICD accessibilities between European countries and Taiwan. Variations in HF-focused services and facilities plus HF-directed medications have demonstrated significant differences among Taiwanese hospitals with or without HF care team.

Why do team members help each other? Investigating cross‐level antecedents of organisational citizenship behaviour

In this study, we investigated the effect of cross‐level factors, including team members’ altruistic personalities, the quality of team member exchange (TMX), interdependence of team structure, as well as interactions between these variables, on team members’ organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB). Using the military teams in Taiwan as samples, we collected empirical data of 90 teams, each with three team members and one team leader. Results of hierarchical linear modelling analysis showed that (a) a team member’s altruistic personality has no significant relationship with OCB, (b) both TMX and team interdependence have positive relationships with OCB, and (c) team interdependence has a cross‐level moderating effect on the relationship between TMX and OCB. For team management, establishing high TMX and interdependent working styles can promote OCB among team members. The results of this study add to knowledge on team members’ display of OCB from a holistic perspective. Findings of this study also support the important influence of TMX and team interdependence, especial for team management, strengthening the cross‐level theory in the study of OCB.

Is Paternalistic Leadership a Double-Edged Sword for Team Performance? The Mediation of Team Identification and Emotional Exhaustion

Drawing on social identity theory and the conservation of resources theory, this study proposes a research framework to reconcile the arguments in previous findings regarding how paternalistic leadership affects team performance. Data from team workers with a variety of professional expertise and skills across 66 high-tech teams in Taiwan were analyzed. The empirical results of this study demonstrate authoritarianism as a double-edged sword for team performance in which authoritarianism positively relates to team performance through team identification but negatively relates to team performance through emotional exhaustion. At the same time, morality positively relates to team performance through team identification, whereas benevolence positively relates to team performance through emotional exhaustion. Based on the findings, theoretical implications, managerial implications, and research limitations are discussed.

Is Paternalistic Leadership a Double-edged Sword for Team Performance?

Drawing upon social identity theory and the conservation of resources theory, this study proposes a research framework to reconcile the arguments in previous findings regarding how paternalistic leadership affects team performance. Data from working professionals across 66 high-tech teams in Taiwan were analyzed. The empirical results of this study demonstrate authoritarianism as a double-edged sword for team performance in which authoritarianism positively relates to team performance through team identification but negatively relates to team performance through emotional exhaustion. At the same time, morality positively relates to team performance through team identification, whereas benevolence positively relates to team performance through emotional exhaustion. Based on the findings, theoretical implications, managerial implications, and research limitations are discussed.

How Humble Employees Mitigate Workplace Incivility: Role of Humility Composition and Humility Norm

The present study aims to explore the social oil function of humility to argue why having many humble people in a workgroup can help to diminish the occurrence of workplace incivility. Relying on the dynamic team personality theory and trait activation theory, we hypothesize that groups with a high mean and low diversity on members’ humility can particularly converge a strong collective humility norm, which in turn reduces the occurrence of uncivil events. We further argue that although in general humble individuals are less likely suffered from uncivil treatments, this beneficial effect of being humble would be weakened neutralized if there is a low collective humility norm. Using a sample composed of 83 professional work teams in Taiwan, we find support to our proposed theoretical model. Our study contributes to the respective literature on workgroups, incivility, and humility by identifying both dispositional and situational antecedences of workgroup incivility and by demonstrating the joint effects these antecedents have on mitigating individuals’ experienced workplace incivility. The research findings also yield important implications for team building and team management.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PLAYER PERFORMANCE AND SALARY IN A PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL LEAGUE

This study aimed to investigate whether teams in Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) are paying their players fairly and equitably based on their performance. Possible performance criteria of professional baseball players are gathered from past literature before subjecting these criteria to regression analysis to obtain criteria that are significant and their corresponding weights. The TOPSIS method is then used to calculate player performance value, and with Quadrant Analysis, relationship between player performance and salary is analyzed. These were used to project salary adjustment for these players for the coming season. Finally, to determine the fairness of salary adjustments, this study employed McNemar test to examine whether adjustments are made based on player performance. This study has found innings pitched (IP), earned run average (ERA) and walks plus hits per inning pitched (WHIP) to be significant abilities in evaluating performance of pitchers, while for fielders, significant abilities for performance evaluation were batting average (BA), slugging average (SLG), hits (H) and on base percentage (OBP) . Based on these derived performance evaluation criteria, more than half of these players gave above average performance, yet their salary adjustments were not made accordingly nor were they made based on the above-mentioned criteria. Article visualizations:

Enhancing river patrol team management through stakeholder discussion facilitated by World Café methodology – A case study in Taiwan

This study explored the outcomes of using the World Café method for promoting discussion among stakeholders on strategies for managing river patrol teams. The discussion topics included (1) strategies for integrating the resources of river patrol teams, (2) designing activities for stimulating river patrol team synergy, and (3) promoting strategies for pollution reporting. Twenty-three participants were categorized into three stakeholder groups, namely officials from environmental protection authorities, contractors' personnel responsible for managing the river patrol teams, and river patrol team members. The meeting offered participants the opportunity to express their opinions and concerns about the management strategy of river patrol teams in Taiwan. Through statistical analysis of the frequency and duration of opinion sharing of the participants, the average number of the statements proposed by participating officials, contractors' personnel, and river patrol team member were 4.1, 2.0, and 2.8, respectively, and the ratios of opinion sharing duration to the total discussion time for the discussed topics (mean ± standard deviation) were 27.2 ± 17.1%, 13.1 ± 10.8%, and 18.5 ± 10.1%, respectively. The statement number and opinion-sharing time ratio were analyzed using Kruskal–Wallis ANOVA, and the results showed that the opinion-sharing by the river patrol team members were not significantly different from those of the other two stakeholder groups. In addition, the opinion-sharing by officials was more favorable than that of the contractors' personnel, reflecting the general characteristics of the traditional top-down river patrol team management strategy. The results from the discussion on these three topics were summarized as follows: (1) the river patrol teams should be encouraged and assisted to integrate diverse public and private sector resources and to seek support from non-profit organizations and environmentally friendly enterprises; (2) the activities for river patrol team management should be designed according to the composition and characteristics of the team members of interest, and education and training curricula should be diversified and lively with practical exercises and constructive discussion; and (3) most people are used to reporting environmental problems to local officials or organization leaders, indicating that local environmental protection bureaus should collaborate with river patrol team leaders and community heads to gain an in-depth understanding of the characteristics of local environmental pollution. The results from this study showed that the World Café meeting facilitated diverse communication, which enabled the participants to interact with one another effectively, and to engage their own creativity and perspectives on forming solutions and strategies for the discussed topics.

Nurses' Experiences in Safe Handling of Chemotherapeutic Agents: The Taiwan Case.

Nurses are the least compliant with the guidelines for use of personal protective equipment (PPE) among health professionals. While the literature regarding nurses not following the guidelines focuses on nonuse of PPE, the experiences of using PPE from nurses' perspectives have not been examined. The aim of this study was to explore the concerns of nurses regarding their decision to use or not to use PPE in the cultural context of Taiwan. An ethnographic design was used, and ethnographic interviews of 57 nurses working with chemotherapy for more than 2 years were conducted. The participating nurses were observed in 2 accredited medical centers with oncology care teams in Taiwan. The constant comparison method was applied for data analysis, and cultural themes were generated from all transcripts. Wearing PPE was identified as an obstacle to professional image and performance. Nurses transformed safety into efficiency and prioritized social roles over professional roles. Experienced nurses, as insiders, believed that they have gained clinical wisdom to avoid occupational exposure to chemotherapy toxicity. This study explored the characteristics of clinical wisdom regarding PPE use in the context of Taiwanese chemotherapy care. Perceived professional image, efficiency on the job, PPE cost, and hospital rules influenced the use or nonuse of PPE by oncology care nurses. Acceptable nurse-patient ratios and refraining from chemotherapy toxicity exposure for pregnant and breast-feeding women are advocated for policy making. The experiential expertise of nurses should be shared as credible evidence in developing guidelines.

A Study on Mutual Engagement in Communities of Practice

The Morakot flood disaster was caused by Typhoon Morakot, which was one of the catastrophic typhoons that have influenced Taiwan in recorded history. The government was criticized for their slow response to the disaster. It was not the government rescue crew but the voluntary rescue teams that offered the most important helping hand to the victims to retrieve thousands of trapped citizens from buried villages. Why can voluntary rescue teams be so professional and efficient? The answer is: they are a kind of Community of Practice (CoP). Although Wenger (1998) proposed 3 elements of forming a CoP, a deep analysis into the 3 elements is lacking, to say nothing of discussing “mutual engagement”, one of the 3 elements, from the perspective of NGOs. In order to explore the members’ mutual engagement in rescue CoPs, the researchers used the data derived from rescue teams in Taiwan to understand two questions: A)Why did the rescue team members initially participate in the mutual engagement? B)Why did the members continue to participate in the mutual engagement? The semi-structured interview method was employed to collect data, while the theoretical framework of CoPs was applied to structure the analysis. The main opinions adopted in this study were from 20 interviewees, who belonged to 6 of the visited rescue teams. This study concludes with some factors in people's initial participation in mutual engagement, and with some factors relating to members’ continuing motivation to participate. Mutual engagement is triggered by varied social learning processes, so the elements interact and are intertwined with each other.

Increasing Emotional Intelligence of Employees: Evidence from Research and Development Teams in Taiwan

Although the concept of emotional intelligence has captured the interest of researchers and the wider public, the mechanism by which transformational leadership exerts its influence on the development of emotional intelligence behavior of followers remains relatively unexplored. In this study we proposed a latent growth model, recruiting 342 employees from Taiwan information technology firms at multiple time points over a 6-month period to test the proposed model. The findings showed that, compared with their coworkers, those employees who perceived their leaders as demonstrating more transformational leadership at Time 1, were more likely than others to develop increases in emotional intelligence behavior over time, which consequently improved their task performance and led to the development of an increase in their organizational citizenship behaviors.