Individual and relational self‐concepts in a team context: Effects on task perceptions, trust, intrinsic motivation, and satisfaction
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to understand the role of individual and relational self‐concepts on various team processes and outcomes in a team context.
Design/methodology/approach
Participants (n=470) worked in dyads on a computer‐based truck dispatching task, deciding as a team which task activities to perform and in what order. The authors assessed differential relationships between individual and relational self‐concepts and various team processes (e.g. trust) and outcomes (satisfaction).
Findings
Subjective task complexity was influenced primarily by individual self‐concept, specifically their core self‐evaluations. Trust in others was influenced primarily by individuals' relational self‐concepts, specifically their teamwork predisposition. Intrinsic motivation and satisfaction were influenced by both individual and relational self‐concepts.
Research limitations/implications
Future research should examine these effects in teams larger than dyads, with other types of tasks, over longer time periods, and with non‐college student samples.
Practical implications
Depending on the task type, a practitioner might cue different self‐concepts to increase individuals' focus on team performance, individual performance, or both. For example, if the team task is highly interdependent and reciprocal in nature, then the team can be trained together or provided information to cue relational self‐concept.
Originality/value
This paper focuses on the construct of individual and relational self‐concepts and their effects on individual functioning in a team context. The results support and extend prior research by demonstrating that outcomes in a team context can be identified and examined in relation to individual conceptions of the self, relational conceptions of the self, or by both.
Keywords
Citation
Narayan, A. and Steele‐Johnson, D. (2012), "Individual and relational self‐concepts in a team context: Effects on task perceptions, trust, intrinsic motivation, and satisfaction", Team Performance Management, Vol. 18 No. 5/6, pp. 236-255. https://doi.org/10.1108/13527591211251122
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2012, Emerald Group Publishing Limited