Shared Leadership and Team Diversity from a Social Network Perspective

• Main Author: Shu, Frank
• Language: EN
• Published: Illinois Institute of Technology 2018
• Subjects: Social psychology|Psychology|Organizational behavior
• Online Access: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10824407

<p> Through social network measures, this study investigates Shared Leadership and other structures of team leadership as they relate to team performance and team work engagement. A sample of 59 interdisciplinary teams, composed of students at a Midwestern university, were studied during a semester long course that engages students in complex applied projects. Students were rated on their team performance at the end of the semester, and were also asked to rate their individual work engagement and social network interactions within their team. Regression analyses revealed that social network density, but not decentralization, was a consistent positive predictor of team performance and team work engagement. Additionally, network measures and team leadership structures, would relate differentially to either team outcome depending on the type of network content (i.e. instrumental or socio-emotional). Results of moderator analyses reveal that surface (i.e. gender) and deep-level (i.e. academic major) diversity moderate the relationship between instrumental decentralization and team performance. Moreover, deep-level diversity moderates the relationship between teams engaged in instrumental Shared Leadership and team performance. A discussion of the results and implications for research and practice are provided.</p><p>