A Cross-Level Test of Empowerment and Process Influences on Members' Informal Learning and Team Commitment. (March 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kukenberger, Michael R.; Mathieu, John E.; Ruddy, Thomas
• Is Part Of: Journal of management. Volume 41:Number 3(2015)
• Page Start: 987
• Page End: 1016
• Publication Date: 2015-03
• Subjects: teams -- informal learning -- team intervention; Management -- Periodicals; 658.005
• DOI: 10.1177/0149206312443559
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0149-2063

Abstract

Team effectiveness can be gauged not only by team-level outcomes but also in terms of influences on individual members. The authors present a two-sample cross-level model of individual informal learning and team commitment, as influenced by team-level processes and empowerment. In the first sample, they examine the impact of team-level constructs on individual outcomes, using 575 individuals from 80 teams in an international Fortune 500 manufacturing firm. Using a sample of 67 teams and 271 individual service engineers from a separate Fortune 500 business solutions organization, the authors further advance their model using a pre–post intervention design. Informal learning and commitment are shown to be positively impacted by team-level empowerment and processes, over and above individual predispositions and perceptions in both samples. In addition, changes in team empowerment and processes attributable to the intervention account for additional criterion variance. Implications are discussed in terms of both research and practice.