I think you can: transpersonal efficacy in teams
Journal of Managerial Psychology
ISSN: 0268-3946
Article publication date: 24 October 2018
Issue publication date: 14 November 2018
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to expand the nomological network of a relational efficacy construct, transpersonal efficacy, and examine its effect on attitudes and behaviors important for team performance. The authors identify several antecedents to transpersonal efficacy, including task interdependence, agreeableness and conscientiousness. The authors also find that transpersonal efficacy is related to relational attitudes and behaviors in teams.
Design/methodology/approach
This study consists of an online cross-sectional survey completed by participants representing a wide range of occupations, team types, contexts and industries. Participants reported on their working relationships with team members and various behavioral outcomes. Participants used the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) to describe their teammates’ job requirements and to evaluate each teammate’s ability to complete required tasks. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to test hypotheses.
Findings
Findings suggest that people in highly interdependent teams have more confidence in their teammates. Further, transpersonal efficacy predicts relationship, task and process conflict when controlling for team task interdependence and virtualness, along with individual differences including agreeableness and conscientiousness. Transpersonal efficacy also contributes to the prediction of relationship conflict beyond the explained variance of collective efficacy.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to our understanding of individuals in teams by using social cognitive theory, expectancy theory and uncertainty reduction theory as a base for predicting the value of transpersonal efficacy in driving relational team behaviors. The authors uniquely consider efficacy as an interpersonal construct that is related to individual behaviors and attitudes that target specific teammates, rather than the team as a whole.
Keywords
Citation
Dubrow, S., Emich, K.J. and Behrend, T.S. (2018), "I think you can: transpersonal efficacy in teams", Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 33 No. 7/8, pp. 458-474. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMP-03-2017-0111
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited