团队地位差异性与团队创造力的倒U型关系:任务特征的调节作用

The Inverted U-shaped Relationship Between Team Status Disparity and Team Creativity:Moderating Effects of Task Characteristics

基于互动过程视角,构建团队地位差异性对团队创造力的倒U型影响模型,并通过106个团队455份有效调问卷进行实证检验。结果表明,团队地位差异性对团队创造力存在倒U型影响,在该影响过程中,任务复杂性、任务互依性的调节作用显著,影响二者倒U型关系的拐点位置。随着任务复杂性提高,团队地位差异性对团队创造力的倒U型曲线拐点向左移动,且拐点位置更高;同样地,随着任务互依性提高,二者的倒U型曲线拐点向左移动,且拐点位置更高。

Team is the power source of modern organizational innovation,and how to promote team creativity has become the focus widely discussed by organizations.However,team members long for status in their teams because of great pressure from social competition and strong need to meet career development.Therefore,competition and motivation of status that could make any degree of team status disparity can influence interactive process among members within teams,which will further influence team creativity.Therefore,modern organizations should design team status disparity carefully.However,it is found through literature review that the relevant research about the relationship between team status disparity and team creativity mainly focus on team performance,and little research is specialized in team creativity.Moreover,there are great divergences in the research on team effectiveness among scholars.Some scholars consider that team status disparity is helpful for teams while other scholars consider team status disparity is harmful to teams.In addition,all of the above research is based on the fundamental assumption of simple linear relation.Therefore,this study will break through this limitation of the above fundamental assumption and explore the complex nonlinear relationship between team status disparity and team creativity which probably exists.High level of team creativity can't exit without effective discrete process and effective convergent process for the thinking.Specifically,effective discrete process makes contribution to generate lots of diversified thoughts,while effective convergent process for the thinking makes contribution to understand and further choose and integrate these thoughts.Therefore,this study will explore the influence of team status disparity on team creativity through the above both of interactive processes.Because teams are built due to specific tasks,members will express to seek status accordingly and dynamically adjust the interaction mode with other members.Thus,this study will explore the two task characteristics(i.e.task complexity and task interdependence)which influence the relationship between team status disparity and team creativity through the perspective of interactive processes.Therefore,the theoretical model is built to explore the inverted U-shaped effect of team status disparity on team creativity based on the perspective of interaction within teams.The relative field test was carried out with 455 valid questionnaires collected from 106 teams.As the results tested by Mplus 7.4 are shown,team status disparity has an inverted U-shaped effect on team creativity.Task complexity and task interdependence significantly moderate the above relationship,which influence the position of the inflection point of the inverted U-shaped relationship.Specifically,as task complexity increases,the inflection point of the inverted U-shaped curve moves left and the position of the inflection point becomes higher.Similarly,as task interdependence increases,the inflection point of the inverted U-shaped curve moves left and the position of the inflection point becomes higher.In general,through opening up another nonlinear thinking way,this study further profoundly describes the unique relationship between team status disparity and team creativity,and reconcile the great divergences in the relevant existing research,which broadens a new thinking vision for the research on team status disparity involved in team effectivity in the future.Meanwhile,this study takes the lead in special study on the influence of team status disparity on team creativity,which deepens theoretical insight into team status disparity and opens up a new perspective for further study on team creativity.Furtherly,this study provides the interesting insight into the boundary conditions between team status disparity and team creativity from the perspective of team characteristics.Finally,this study has made some helpful attempts on identification and location of the inflection point of the inverted U-shaped curve,as well as certain contribution to the research on nonlinear curve.