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The Formation of Group Affect and Team Effectiveness: The Moderating Role of Identification
Author(s) -
Tanghe Jacqueline,
Wisse Barbara,
Van Der Flier Henk
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
british journal of management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.407
H-Index - 108
eISSN - 1467-8551
pISSN - 1045-3172
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8551.2009.00656.x
Subject(s) - affect (linguistics) , identification (biology) , psychology , social psychology , team effectiveness , notice , perspective (graphical) , social identity theory , convergence (economics) , group identification , group (periodic table) , social group , knowledge management , political science , communication , chemistry , botany , organic chemistry , artificial intelligence , computer science , law , economics , biology , economic growth
In the current research we use the social identity perspective to enhance our understanding of group affect (i.e. a collectively shared pattern of affective states among group members). Because higher identification (i.e. the extent to which group members define themselves in terms of their group membership) is related to higher attentiveness to fellow group members, we expected that group identification would foster affective convergence, and that the effects of group affective tone on team effectiveness would be stronger for higher identifying groups. A survey of teams (n=71 teams) confirmed our expectations. A scenario experiment (n=121 participants) added to our findings by showing that identification does indeed lead group members to affectively converge to their fellow group members and that this affective convergence, in turn, explains subsequent team‐oriented attitudes. Our study testifies to the notion that team managers may want to take notice of and manage affect in work groups, because, especially in higher identifying teams, affect may spread among team members and influence the team's effectiveness.