Initiated and received task interdependence and distributed team performance : the mediating roles of different forms of role clarity

Wong, Sut I (author), Van Gils, Suzanne (author)

Distributed agile teams are increasingly employed in organizations, partly due to the increased focus on digital transformation. However, research findings about the performance of such teams appear to be inconsistent, calling for more research to investigate the conditions under which distributed agile teams may thrive. Given that task coordination is particularly challenging when team members are not co-located, the present study investigates the roles of the two types of task interdependence, i.e., initiated versus received task interdependence. Survey results from 191 participants working in distributed agile teams within three companies in Norway confirm our hypotheses. Specifically, we show that high initiated task interdependence is associated with higher role clarity of others, while received task interdependence is associated with higher role clarity of self, and that both subsequently result in higher team performance in distributed agile teams. Thus, we argue that each type of task interdependence contributes in a unique way to team performance in distributed agile teams.

• Language: English
• Keywords: distributed agile teams, received task interdependence, initiated task interdependence, role clarity of self, role clarity of others, team performance
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: EF - School of Economics and Business
• Publication status: In print
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2021
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-133684
• UDC: 659.2:004
• ISSN on article: 0951-5666
• DOI: 10.1007/s00146-021-01241-w
• COBISS.SI-ID: 82153731
• Publication date in RUL: 09.12.2021

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: AI & society
• Shortened title: AI Soc.
• Publisher: Springer International
• ISSN: 0951-5666
• COBISS.SI-ID: 28796417

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.
• Licensing start date: 25.06.2021

Projects

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Funding programme: Raziskovalni projekt - temeljni
• Project number: J5-2555
• Name: Oblikovanje organizacije v digitalni dobi